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THE AGONISING HEART.

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ROEHAMPTOK :
PRINTED BY JAMES STANLEY.

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THE

AGONISING HEART.

SALVATION OF THE DYING,
CONSOLATION OF THE AFFLICTED.

THE REV. FATHER BLOT.

AUTHOR OF THE " AGONY OF JESUS."

With approbation of the Bishop of Mans.

Part I.

LONDON:

BURNS, OATES, & CO., PORTMAN STREET.
1869.

/JS. f. W*.

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Approbation*

Having caused the work entitled the Agonising Heart,
Salvation of the Dying, to be examined, we approve it
for our diocese, and particularly recommend it to devout
persons.

At Mans, October 14, 1866.
+ CHARLES, Bishop of Mans.

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PREFACE.

On a cold snowy day in the beginning of
February, 1864, the writer of these pages
took a journey from Paris to Mende. This
little town, the capital of the department
of Lozfere, is situated in a deep valley on
the left bank of the Lot Two holy men
are connected with its history — St. Privat,
a Bishop and Martyr of the third century,
and Pope Urban V., who lived in the
fourteenth century. The town takes its
name from Mont Mimat, which rises near
it to the height of more than 3,000 feet
above the level of the sea. On the steep
and barren slope of this mountain, about
six hundred feet above the town, is the
hermitage of St Privat, partly cut out of
the rock. The statue of the holy Pope
Urban V., Bishop at once of Rome and

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viii

PREFACE.

of Mende, is soon to be erected on the
" Place " in front of the ancient cathedral,
whose beautiful tower is the admiration of
visitors to Mende.

In this obscure valley the Divine Hus-
bandman was pleased to sow the seed
of a new Society, destined by its sweet
fragrance to counteract the contagion of
the sect of " Solidaires," and to bring forth
most precious fruits of salvation for the
dying. Godless society seeks fame and
notoriety, religious society loves silence and
obscurity. The aim of the one is to make
men lose their souls, while the other by
the most generous efforts and sacrifices
seeks their salvation.

On Friday, the 5th of February, we
joined the pious souls who gathered morn-
ing and evening in a poor little chapel to
kindle their zeal at the Heart of Jesus, to
learn something of the Agonies of the
God-Man, to encourage each other in the
work of helping tlje dying by means of
prayers and charitable visits. The longing
of these pure souls is to come near to

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PREFACE.

the Divine Heart in the Sacrament of
Its Love, and then to carry Its graces to
their dying brethren. At our left hand,
within a grating, was a band of virgins
and widows clothed in the Religious habit ;
they had offered themselves to die for
expiring sinners, they had given up the
good things of this life, their families, their
health, their very lives, in order to reconcile
to God those who die each day.

In the morning we went forth, in spite
of the icy wind and falling snow, to visit
the dead and to kneel at the tomb of a
Priest of the Society of Jesus, who had
died some months before, Superior of the
College at Mende. The Rev. father Bru-
mauld had spent twenty years in Africa,
where he had been the friend of our soldiers
and officers, and many of them had 5oined
in erecting an humble but durable monu-
ment to his memory. As we rose up we
saw near us a white cross, with the Heart
pierced by the lance and surrounded by
the crown of thorns painted on it. We
learned from an inscription that beneath

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PREFACE.

this wooden cross lay the mortal remains
of the first Nun of the Agonising Heart of
Jesus, whose vow of self-sacrifice God had
heard and accepted on behalf of the dying.
We were eager and happy to pray for the
repose of one who had so generously prayed
for the conversion of others.

In the evening, by the permission of
Mgr. Foulquier, the holy and benevolent
Bishop of Mans, we were admitted within
the enclosure of the monastery. An account
of the Community will be given in the
course of this little work, which we write
on behalf of the dying, having already
written one on behalf of the dead, and
another on the Blessed in Heaven. Perhaps,
when our last hour comes, God will re-
member our humble efforts, and, in con-
sideration of what we have endeavoured to
do for the agonising, for the departed, and
for the sorrowing survivors, will soften for
us the agony which precedes death, or the
expiation which follows it Or rather —
O God grant to others any consolation
that might be ours, let Thy mercy comfort

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PREFACE.

the afflicted, refresh the souls in Purgatory,
and convert the dying, even at the cost of
any sufferings or trials we may have to
undergo !

The present book is divided into two
parts : the first treats of Works, the second
contains Prayers ; the one considers the
Agonising Heart more particularly as the
Salvation of the Dying, the other as the
Consolation of the Afflicted. These two
parts might have formed a single volume,
but it has been thought better to publish
them separately, in order that the first
may be the more easily lent and the more
widely read ; the second can be conveniently
used by the Faithful in their private prayers,
in hearing Mass in union with the Agony of
our Divine Lord, in practising the Devotion
of the Holy Hour for His members in their
agony. This book is neither a repetition
nor an abridgment of the Agony of Jesus :
it is a supplement to it; it relates to a
special work, and gives practical details
necessarily omitted when the subject was
treated in a more general way. We com-

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Xll

PREFACE.

mend it to those who are seeking a remedy
for their sorrows, to those who would win
for their relations and friends the great
grace of a holy death. It will put before
you a work of the greatest importance, and
specially favoured by Providence, a work
of prayer and suffering for the benefit of
the dying, in which you may cooperate,
and while promoting their salvation, find
comfort and light for your own souls.

The greatest things often spring from
small beginnings. What was but a speck
on the horizon becomes a cloud, bearing
refreshment or devastation to the whole
country. When Israel had sinned and
forsaken the true God, for three years there
was neither dew nor rain, and then a cloud
not bigger than a man's footprint rose out
of the sea. The Prophet Elias foretold a
great rain, and soon the heavens grew dark
and it fell in torrents. Alas ! the withering
effects of impiety and forgetfulness of God
are to be seen around us on every side!
How many souls are scorched by evil
passions and profanity! Who will give

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PREFACE.

xiii

them back some of their former freshness ?
Who will pour down on them a shower of
grace from the treasures amassed by the
Blood and Tears and Sufferings of the Son
of God ? This is the office of the Devotion
to the Agonising Heart of our Saviour.
Its beginning was small and almost imper-
ceptible, in the middle of this century,
hidden in the breast of a humble recluse ;
and even when it appeared above the
horizon, it seemed at first but a speck.
Now, however, the entire Church is over-
spread with it; blessings and graces are
pouring down on the whole world, the
afflicted are being consoled, the dying
are being saved ; each day fresh fruits
are brought forth, and we see Christians
from all ranks of society, laymen as well
as Religious of contemplative and active
Orders, children of St Vincent of Paul
and disciples of St. Ignatius, joining in a
common and generous Devotion to the
interests of the dying.

Saint- Germain-en- Laye, December 27 ; 1865,
Feast of St. John the Evangelist.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Preface pp. vii — xiii.

L— THE DEVOTION.

CHAPTER I.

REMOTE ORIGIN OF THE DEVOTION TO THE AGONISING
HEART OF JESUS.

Explanation. Remote origin of this Devotion found in
the Incarnation, and especially in the Agony in the
Garden. Mary the first to practise it. All pure souls
have with St John imitated her compassionate Heart.
Meaning of tne practices. Devotion to the Sacred
Heart its source. Its name is not new, nor is it new
in its highest expression, i.e., the renunciation of the
world pp. i — 9.

CHAPTER II.

PROXIMATE ORIGIN.

Devotion to the Mystery of the Garden of Olives de-
veloped in our days. Its preparation in Paris at the
Rue des Postes. Its formation at Vals pres le Puys.
Approbation given by Pius IX. at Naples. First
pamphlet published at Avignon . . pp. 9 — 16.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.
NATURE OF THIS DEVOTION.

Object of veneration, object of supplication. First aim of
Devotion to the Sacred Heart io honour; second aim
to repair. Both attained by Devotion to the Agonising
Heart. Usefulness of the Devotion, a usefulness dis-
tinct from that of the Bona Mors. The four fruits of a
good work pp. 17 — 23.

CHAPTER IV.

THE OBJECT OF OUR VENERATION.

Devotion to the Agonising Heart forms a link between
Devotion to the Sacred Heart and Devotion to the
Holy Agony. The Agony of the Heart of Jesus
explained by French authors. This Agony caused by
the sight of our sins, by compassion for our miseries,
and by the foreknowledge of Its own sufferings. Our
preachers often represent sin as inflicting Agony on the
Heart of Jesus. Greatness of this Agony . pp. 24 — 32.

CHAPTER V.

ADVANTAGES OF THIS DEVOTION.

Social utility of every Catholic Devotion. Fruitfulness of
Devotion to the Heart of Jesus. It is reasonable to
honour the Agonising Heart It is just to give It
thanks. It is useful to pray to It. Charity in the
Garden of the Church . . . . pp. 32 — 40.

CHAPTER VI.

LET US CONSOLE THE AGONISING HEART OF JESUS.

We console It by imitation. By converting the dying.
How much the sight of the lost afflicted It. How
much the sight of our efforts consoles It . pp. 40 — 46

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xvii

CHAPTER VII.

THE OBJECT OF OUR SUPPLICATIONS.

Devotion to the Heart of Jesus an excellent preparation
for a holy death. The Agonising Heart invoked for the
salvation of the dying. The last agony. Terrors of
the dying sinner. We cannot perfectly describe the last
agony, but we can sanctify it by prayers . pp. 47 — 55.

CHAPTER VIII.

LET US NOT FORSAKE THE DYING.

In former times every Christian prepared for death.
Works on this subject But now the dying often will
not even see a Priest. Touching prayer of a dying
Religious that the dying may not be forsaken. Let us
be their visible angels .... pp. 55 — 60.

CHAPTER IX.

REASONS FOR HASTE.

JReasons of our prayers for the dying. Jesus asks it of us.
We pay homage to His Agony when we trust them to
His Agonising Heart. Time presses. Let our assist-
ance be in proportion to the necessity for it. Let us be

. apostles. Let us pray by working and by suffering.

\We shall be prayed for in our turn . . pp. 60 — 65.

II.— THE CONFRATERNITY.
CHAPTER I.

' OLD ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE RELIEF OF THE DYING.

Influence of the Association. The holy women on
Calvary. The service of the hospitals, and of the
ministers of the sick. Confraternity of the Holy Agony

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

of our Lord. Bona Mors under the protection of the
holy Angels. Confraternity of St Francis of Sales for
the agonising pp 66 — 73.

CHAPTER II.

THE NEW ASSOCIATION SUITED TO THE PRESENT TIME.

Fitness of devotion to the Agonising Heart, as regards
its object of veneration and its object of supplication.
Prayer is often our only way of promoting the salva-
tion of the dying. The association of the " Solidaires "
and its motto. Episcopal condemnation. Support
from Freemasonry. Opposition to this satanic
society becomes a necessity. Mission of the Asso-
ciates of the Agonising Heart. An ingenious method
adopted pp. 74 — 82.

CHAPTER III.

PROGRESS OF THE WORK.

Short prayer to the Agonising Heart distributed every-
where, like a blessed seed. Benevolent assistance of
pious persons. Association established at Bourges, at
Mans, at Niort, and Limoges. Interior progress of
the work, or greater perfection of means. How the
Association may be established . . pp. 83 — 88.

CHAPTER IV.

VISITING THE SICK.

Recommended by the Founder. The first Confraternity
of Charity and the society of ladies established by
St. Vincent of Paul for the purpose of visiting the
sick. Much good is still done, in Paris by this society.
The Association of the Agonising Heart promotes
the same work. Statutes relative to visiting the sick.
How God leads founders and developes their under-
takings . . . . . . . pp. 88 — 94.

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xix

CHAPTER V.

PRAYER AND ACTION.

Variety in unity. Contemplative and active Nuns. Apos-
tolic Society of the Sacred Heart. Prayer is the soul
of the Society. And action combined with prayer and
suffering is its ordinary means . . pp. 95 — 102.

CHAPTER VI.

THE WORK IN COMMUNITIES.

This work flourishes best in Communities, because their
members are most like Jesus in His Agony. The
resemblance strengthened by devotion to His Agonising
Heart. Zeal of active Communities for our object ;
and of contemplative Communities , pp. 102 — 107.

CHAPTER VII.

GRACES OBTAINED THROUGH IT.

Blessings connected with the worship of the Sacred Heart.
Blessings received by the Associates of the Agonising
Heart. Their special happiness in Heaven. Graces
which they gain for others. Examples . pp. 107 — 112.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DYING CONVERTED.

Conversion of two old men, one rich and the other poor,
one at home and the other in a hospital . pp. 1 12 — 128.

CHAPTER IX.

OTHER EXAMPLES.

Conversion of a young man who had resisted grace.
Conversion of an impious blasphemer. Reflections of
a Religious . . . . . pp. 1 18 — 124.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X.
ARCHCON FRATERNITY AT JERUSALEM.

All hearts are turned towards Jerusalem. A young person
invokes the Agonising Heart for her dying father;
causes a medal to be struck ; wishes for the establish-
ment of an Archconfraternity at Jerusalem ; corresponds
with Father Lyonnard. The Patriarch, Mgr. Valerga,
views the project with favour. Its execution delayed
by difficulties pp. 124 — 129.

CHAPTER XI.

ARCHCONFRATERNITY AT JERUSALEM.

Decree of the Patriarch establishing the Confraternity.
Indulgences granted by the Pope. How to become a
member. First consequence, propagation of Devotion
to the Agonising Heart. Second consequence, the
diffusion of the general Devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Egotism and self-indulgence will be thus diminished by
this Devotion pp. 130 — 139.

III.— THE COMMUNITY.
CHAPTER L

CONTEMPLATIVE CONGREGATION OF THE AGONISING
HEART.

The work of the Agonising Heart is glorious. Useful-
ness of the contemplative life. Its principle and its
object — love of man and love of God. The more
contemplative Orders love God, the more they love
their neighbours. Contemplative Communities increase
devotion and love. This will be specially true of the
Community of the Agonising Heart . pp. 140— 146.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

xxi

CHAPTER II.

IDEA OF THE FOUNDATION.

The Foundress' attraction for Religious life. She is left a
widow with ten children ; devotes herself to the care of
the sick ; builds a chapel in honour of the Agonising
Heart; wishes to establish a Community; speaks of
her desire to Father Lyonnard ; and resolves to under-
take it pp. 146 — 152.

CHAPTER III.

EXECUTION OF THE PROJECT.

The first vocation. Departure for Mende. Token of the
divine pleasure by a miraculous cure. Opening of the
Novitiate. Death of the first Choir Sister. The Foun-
dress and two Sisters take their vows. Paternal care
of Providence. The House at Lyons . pp. 152 — 160.

CHAPTER IV.

ABRIDGED FORMULARY OF THE INSTITUTE.

Object, vows, cloister, prayer, mortification, work, dowry,
auxiliaries, spirit, devotion. Apostolic object often
set before the Religious. Prayers for the direction of
the intention. The Community meet present needs.
It will maintain the Devotion and the Confra-
ternity ...... pp. 161 — 166.

CHAPTER V.

THE VOW OF IMMOLATION.

Its obligations. Offering of life. God has often accepted
this kind of offering. Value of this vow. Resemblance
which it produces between Jesus Christ and the Reli-
gious. Its power for good . . pp. 166—172.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.
THE CONSTITUTIONS.

Object of the vocation. Spirit of the Institute. Cloister.
Postulate. First Novitiate. Second Novitiate. Form
of Profession. Question of Conscience . pp. 173 — 178.

CHAPTER VII.

A DAY.

The cell. The Religious dress. Act of offering.
Psalmody. Mass. Manual labour. Meals. Recre-
ation. Rosary. Intercession. Homage to the Dying
Saviour's Agony .... pp. 179—186.

CHAPTER VIII.

A PROFESSION.

St Agnes, model of all virgins who consecrate themselves
to the Lord. Preface sung by the Celebrant Words
sung by the virgins. Special observance at the Pro-
fession in honour of the Agony of our Lord. Pecu-
liarities in the ceremony of giving the Religious
dress pp. 186 — 193.

CHAPTER IX.

DIFFERENT REPRESENTATIONS OF THE AGONY OF JESUS.

The new Institute represents the Saviour's Agony.
Material representation. Historical representation.
Moral representation .... pp. 193 — 198.

CHAPTER X.

MYSTICAL REPRESENTATION.

Exercise of the Five Wounds. Exercises of reparation.
The Holy Hour. Oblation — Intercession — Fast.
Humiliation in the refectory. Prayer to the Angel of
Consolation pp. 198—204.

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xxiii

CHAPTER XL

DEVOTION TO THE COMPASSIONATE HEART OF
MARY.

Honours paid to the Blessed Virgin. Daily prayer.
Consecration made on Saturday. Exercises of humi-
liation on her seven principal Feasts. Zeal of Mary for
the salvation of the agonising. Let us imitate this
zeal pp. 204 — 210.

CHAPTER XII.

THE SALVATION OF THE AGONISING.

The good that women can do by a hidden life. A
cloistered Nun has sometimes been chosen by God
to cooperate with an Apostolic man. Usefulness of
the Nuns of the Agonising Heart, especially to the
dying pp. 210 — 216.

CHAPTER XIII.

PRAYERS OF CONTEMPLATIVE ORDERS.

Detractors of contemplative life inconsistent and unjust.
Good done by contemplative Orders. Examples of
sinners converted by them. Value of the prayers of a
whole Community .... pp. 216 — 221.

CHAPTER XIV.

CONVERSIONS OBTAINED.

Conversion of a merchant at Mende. Conversion of an
old man in the diocese of Bordeaux. Holy deaths of
the relations of Nuns. To multiply conversions let us
promote the extension of the Society . pp. 222 — 227.

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xxiv

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XV.
THE FUTURE.

Providential designs. The spirit of prayer and contem-
plation is kept alive amongst us by the contemplative
Orders. The Agonising Heart of Jesus will revive it
among the active Orders. Perhaps it may become a
common centre of prayer for all. The active spiritual
life, or mixed life, will be developed ; this is the most
perfect of all. The work will become a great and
fruitful tree pp. 228 — 234.

PRAYERS FOR THE DYING.

I. Daily Prayer (Latin and English)

II. Litany of Jesus in the Garden of Olives

III. Litany of St. Joseph ....

IV. Prayer of a Nun of the Visitation
V. Prayer of Father Franco .

VI. Prayers of Morvelli ....

VII. Prayers of Lattaignant

VIII. Litany of the Dying ....

IX. Recommendation of a Departing soul .

235
236

23S
240

243
243
*45
246
248

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THE AGONISING HEART,

I. — THE DEVOTION.
CHAPTER I.

REMOTE ORIGIN OF THE DEVOTION TO THE
AGONISING HEART OF JESUS.

Explanation. Remote origin of this Devotion found in
the Incarnation, and especially in the Agony in the
Garden. Mary the first to practise it. All pure souls
have with St. John imitated her compassionate Heart.
Meaning of the practices. Devotion to the Sacred
Heart its source. Its name is not new, nor is it new
in its highest expression, i.e., the renunciation of the
world.

The Incarnation itself is the remote origin of
the Devotion to the Agonising Heart The
moment that the Eternal Word took Flesh in
the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that
Mother learned the mystery of His future
sorrows, and sympathised with the anguish
-caused by our sins to the Heart of the Divine
Child. The Heart of Jesus was in Agony from

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THE AGONISING HEART.

the very h<Mir of His Conception, and from
that hour Mary shared the Agony of her Son,
and thus won her beautiful name — " Our Lady
of the Sacred Heart." In the first work ever
written on these two Sacred Hearts, we read,
"As soon as the Blessed Virgin became the
Mother of our Redeemer, an undying struggle
of love began in her Heart ; on the one hand
she knew that it was the will of God that her
beloved Son should suffer and die for our salva-
tion, and her ardent love for the Divine Will
and for the salvation of souls wrought in her
a perfect submission to this decree; but, on
the other hand, her surpassing maternal love
caused her unspeakable anguish at the sight
of the torments which her most dear Son was.
to undergo for the redemption of the world."*

Holy Scripture, however, only uses the word
"agony" to express the mental sufferings of
the Man-God on the Mount of Olives. Mary
underwent an agony like that of Jesus, because
of her love and her compassion, or rather, her
devotion for Him. Our author adds, "The
Saviour having bid farewell to His most holy
Mother, plunged into an immense ocean of
sorrow; and His desolate Mother, wrapt in
contemplation, shared them in her Heart. Thus
that sad day was for her a day of prayer, of
tears, of interior agony, of perfect submission
to the divine will; and from her inmost soul

* Eudes, Le Caur Admirable, t ii., 1. vi., cap. v.

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THE DEVOTION.

also arqse those words which He spoke in the
Garden of Olives, " Father, not My will but
Thine be done."*

Mary's devotion to Jesus in His Agony never
failed. St. John the Beloved, who has been
called the first Disciple of the Sacred Heart,
rested on his Master's Bosom amid the joys of
the Eucharistic Banquet, but during His fearful
Agony on the Mount of Olives, like James his
brother, like Peter his chief, he yielded to sleep,
and thus incurred that Master's reproaches;
while Mary had the glory of being for the
time the only Disciple, the most constant com-
panion, the best consoler of the Agonising
Heart of Jesus. It was that most faithful
Virgin who, by her example more than by her
words, led the virgin Disciple to Calvary's
height, where he stood with her at the foot
of the Cross, with her compassioned the dying
Saviour's Agony, and with her entered by force
of love into the Sacred Heart, there opened
by the soldier's lance. From the time of the
faithful Disciple all pure souls have longed to
be with Mary in her desolation, all Saints have
shared with her the sufferings of her Divine
Son. They have placed their hearts beneath
His Heart, to be purified by the Water and
vivified by the Blood ; they have taken up their
abode in that open Heart as in a sure place
of refuge. With the Mother of Dolours they

* Eudes, Le Ccmr Admirable, t. ii., 1. vi., cap. v.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

have watched the Agony of her Son in the
Garden of Olives; they have joined in her
devotion to His Agonising Heart. What Saint
is there who has not found a subject of deep
and constant meditation and compassion in the
interior anguish, the mental sorrows, the hidden
Passion endured by Him from His Incarnation
to His Death? The depth of affliction into
which our sins plunged His Divine Heart, His
sympathy for our miseries, His perfect know-
ledge of the outrages committed against His
Father, of the torments He was to undergo,
have ever been matter of adoring study and
contemplation to pious and faithful Christians.
They have turned to Gethsemani when op-
pressed with fears and cares and sadness, and
the Agonised Heart of their Good Master has
been their refuge and their hope. In proof of
this we need only refer to the quotations we
have made in the Agony of Jesus.

Looking on this Devotion as consisting in
special practices, we find the germ first spring-
ing up, the beautiful rose-bud beginning to
open, at the very time when, under the pious
care of Father Eudes and from revelations made
to Blessed Margaret Mary, the Devotion to the
Sacred Heart 'filled the world with its fragrance.
One Devotion contains the other, just as the
"genus" contains the "species;" one produces
the other, as the same branch often produces
several flowers. Are not Devotion to the

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THE DEVOTION.

Agonising Heart and Devotion to the Eucha-
ristic Heart the fairest flowers that spring from
the general Devotion to the Divine Heart of
Jesus, which the one honours in Its present
state, and the other in Its past? The special
Devotion to our Saviour's Agony may then be
traced at least to those two chosen souls, whose
whole life on earth seems to have been but one
long agony.

About the year 1660 Father Eudes composed
a Mass and Office for the Feast of the Sacred
Heart, which were approved by several Bishops.
In 1672 he ordered that the Feast should be
celebrated on the 20th of October by all the
Religious of his Congregation. In his circular
letter he forestalls an objection which might be
raised to this Devotion of the Agonising Heart.
" If," says he, " the novelty of this Devotion is
objected to, I answer that novelty, though most
dangerous in matters of faith, is very good in
matters of devotion. Otherwise we must rescind
all the Feasts of the Church which were once
new, and especially the later ones, such as the
Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, of the Holy
Name of Jesus, of the Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin, of her Name, and many
others which have been addefl to the Roman
Breviary.*

In the following year, 1673, one Friday, after
Holy Communion, Margaret Mary received the
* De Montigny, Vk du P. Eudes> L x., p. 368.

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6 THE AGONISING HEART.

first revelation regarding the "Holy Hour."
She was directed always to rise in the night
between Thursday and Friday, and to honour
the Agony suffered by our Lord in the night of
His Passion, by saying certain prayers which
He Himself indicated. This pious practice
made its way, though it was long opposed by
Margaret's Superiors. "Certainly," says her
historian, "that blessed one is well recom-
pensed for all she went through when, looking
down from Heaven, she sees every week, at the
same hour that the Saviour, prostrate before
His Father, watered the earth with His Blood,
so many pious souls deny themselves the repose
of sleep, and conquer the weakness of the flesh,
that they at least may escape the reproach
addressed to the first witnesses of His Agony —
"What! could you not watch with Me one
hour?"*

Devotion to the Agonising Heart of Jesus is
not then new in this, one of its principal prac-
tices, any more than in its substance or in its
source. The very name is not new, for it is
found in a Latin work, by Ginther, approved in
the year 1705, and called the Mirror of Love
and Grief in the most Sacred and Divine Heart
of fesus, from which we proceed to quote : " So
overpowering was the weight of fear and sadness
which pressed on that most loving Heart in the

* Daniel, Histoire de la B. Marguerite Marie 9 cap. x.,
p. 112.

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THE DEVOTION.

Garden of Olives, that the hearts of all men,
if they had been joined together, could not
have borne it, but must have broken at once.
Was it not meet that the King of Martyrs
should show us in His own Person what the
Martyrs have suffered, or rather what they would
have had to suffer, unless He had upheld them
and consoled them by His grace? And can
you yourselves consider the Heart of Jesus
agonising in Gethsemani — Cor Jes&s agonisans
— without being touched to your very heart's
core by compassion lor Him, and contrition for
your sins? How will it be with you if some
day an agony like that oppresses your own
heart? How much more severely will you
judge your present life, your coldness, your
want of devotion? How will you feel if the
coming judgment and the eternal punishment
you deserve appear before your agonising heart
— agonisanti cordi tuo. "* " The Prophet J eremias,
with the Agony of the Heart of Jesus before
him, wrote — * My heart is poured out upon the
earth ' — my heart, where life has its source,,
where the blood is purified, where the affections
dwell. For was it not on the Mount of Olives
that the Heart of Jesus poured forth Blood?
And if the Eternal Father requires such an
expiation from the Heart of His Son for sins
not His own, what will become of you, who

* Ginther, Speculum Amoris et Doloris, consid.. xxxi.,
nn. 5, 6.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

have committed so many ? Who will be able
to bear his own sins, when our Creator and
Saviour is sorrowful even unto death, and
trembles and falls under the weight of the
sins of others — ad mortem usque SS. Cor Ejus
agonisat '-?"*

The Devotion of which we treat is not new
in its highest signification — that renunciation of
the world in honour of the Agony of the Divine
Heart practised at the present moment by the
Sisters of the Sacred Agony and the Nuns of
the Agonising Heart Our author gives an
example from the earliest ages of Christianity.
Theodore, a rich and noble youth, lived in
Egypt in the midst of luxury. One day his eye
was caught by a representation of Jesus in the
Garden of Olives, and at the same moment
grace touched his heart He fell on his knees,
and with many tears besought our Lord to
bring him into the way of salvation and of
perfection. His mother did her best to detain
him, but the Saviour's sweat of blood gave him
courage and strength. He bade farewell to the
world, to his relations, his wealth and pleasures,
and withdrew to a vast desert, to imitate his
Agonising Lord by a life of continual prayer
and voluntary mortification, t

We read of this same St Theodore in the

* Ginther, Speculum Amoris ct Doloris^ consid. xxxiii.,
nn. 2, 3.
t Ibid., consid. xxxi., n. 6.

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THE DEVOTION.

life of St Pacomius,* whom he succeeded as
spiritual guide of his Monks. St Nilus, Genna-
dius, and Cassian, also speak in his praise.t
One single sight of the Agonising Heart of
Jesus was his first step towards that eminent
holiness which he afterwards attained. Can we
wonder if that sight still produces the same
effects ? And must not the sight of the living
images of His Agony, of those generous beings
who honour and revive its remembrance in
these mournful mysteries, inspire others with
the same desire, the same abnegation, and the
same devotedness ?

CHAPTER II.

PROXIMATE ORIGIN.

Devotion to the Mystery of the Garden of Olives de-
veloped in our days. Its preparation in Paris at the Rue
des Postes. Its formation at Vals pres le Puys. Appro-
bation given by Pius IX. at Naples. First pamphlet
published at Avignon.

Devotion to the Agonising Heart of Jesus is
new only in certain practices, and in the favours
granted by the Sovereign Pontiff to those who
adopt it. That Providence which has reserved

* De Vitis Patrum., 1. i.; Vita Sancti Pachotnii, capp.
xxix., xxx., xxxi. ; Migne, Patrologie Latine, t. lxxiii.

T St. Nilus, De Oratione, cap. cviii. ; Gennadius, Liber
de Scriptoribtts Ecclesiasticis, cap. viii. ; Cassian, De
Ccenobiorum instilui, 1. v., cap. xxxiii. ; Collatio vi.

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IO THE AGONISING HEART.

for these later times the manifestation of all the
treasures of grace contained in the Sacred
Heart, has willed also that in our age of agony,
at the very epoch of our greatest calamities,
Devotion to the Agonising Heart should be
fully developed. It appears as a token of hope,
a rainbow in the midst of the storm, inviting
sorrowful souls to put their confidence in God,
to turn for consolation to the Heart of their
Good Master, and to draw from the never-
failing fountain of His Agonies salvation for all
who are in their last agony.

On the 29th of August, 1828, Leo XII. gave
permission for a special Feast, and approved of
a service and Mass in honour of our Lord's
Prayer on the Mount of Olives; and on the
27th of July, 1831, Gregory XVI. granted
indulgences to the members of the Confra-
ternity of the " Holy Hour."

During the scholastic year of 1843 — 4, a
young Religious of the Society of Jesus, destined
Tty Providence to be instrumental in the estab-
lishment of this Devotion, was studying litera-
ture in a house in Paris (18, Rue des Postes),
where love of the Sacred Heart is an undying
tradition. During the last century it was in-
habited by the disciples of Father Eudes, and
after the Great Revolution by the Nuns of the
Visitation, Sisters of the Blessed Margaret
Mary.* In 1830 one part of the house (No. 24
* ViedeP. Eudes, 1. ix. fin, p. 361.

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THE DEVOTION.

in the same street) was the Office of the Catholic
Association of the Sacred Heart, which pub-
lished the Life of the Blessed Margaret Mary •
Alacoque, and Devotion to the Sacred Hearts of
Jesus and Mary ; or, the Salvation of France,
with many other works of piety. At the time
of which we speak, this house had been for
some few years the residence of the Fathers of
the Society of Jesus. Fathers Barat and Varin,
founders of the congregation of instruction so
well known by the name of the Sacred Heart,
spent their last days there. There also Father
Daniel wrote his History of the Blessed Margaret
Mary, and there we ourselves made the first
outline of these volumes on the Agonising
Heart May not this uninterrupted tradition
be a reason for blessings granted, for successes
gained by the many young men of good family
who are now prepared in this house for the
Government schools ? At any rate, there is no
spot in the capital where a magnificent sanctuary
of the Sacred Heart might more fitly be erected
in commemoration of many benefits.

A little chapel near the street was often
visited by him whom God was preparing to lead
men to know and invoke the compassionate
Heart of Mary and the Agonising Heart of
Jesus. The grace that prepared him was a
grace of interior suffering, of mental pain,
which became very intense during the following
year. After these sharp trials, the thought of*

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THE AGONISING HEART.

the Agonising Heart of Jesus and the com-
passionate Heart of Mary came clearly before
his mind. While Devotion to the compassionate
Heart of the Mother was to bring down from
Heaven to earth the graces needed by the
living for their comfort, and for the sanctifi-
-cation of their own sorrows, Devotion to the
Agonising Heart of the Son was to be a noble
"vessel, rescuing the shipwrecked, and bearing
those who die each day from the shores of time
to the haven of a happy eternity.

In the order of grace, as well as in that of
nature, there is a wonderful system of connec-
tion; the most beautiful creations of Christian
genius are not isolated, others have prepared
vthe way for them, or accompany them, and they
all render assistance to each other. Again, it
may be remarked that as nature prepares for
►certain plants a favoured soil, specially fitted to
bring them to the greatest perfection, so grace
chooses for the birthplaces of its noblest works
spots which have already been sanctified by
peculiar devotion and great virtues. At the
very time of which we speak, the same house
•sheltered another Religious, who was hereafter
to propagate Devotion to the Sacred Heart,
^and the Apostolate of Prayer. The two met
again at Vals pres le Puys, where Devotion to
the Agonising Heart took a definite form.

This important seminary has constantly sent
•forth intrepid Apostles to the conquest of souls

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THE DEVOTION.

in all parts of the world, and Providence was
now bringing together and preparing materials
for fresh works which were to radiate from the
same centre. It was here that the Rev. Father
Gautrelet composed a book on that Apostolate
of Prayer, which has been so happily developed
by the talent and zeal of Father Ramifere. Its
monthly publication, the Messenger of the Sacred
Heart, spreads a practical love of the Heart of
Jesus, together with much information regarding
its interests, throughout all ranks of society.
Once every year is read in the Refectory at
Vals a short notice of Charles Bertrand, who
died there about this time in the odour of
sanctity, after having shared in the blessings
showered down upon that holy house. His
vocation was that of a victim for the good of
others, and he was the first who was buried in
that cemetery where other Brothers of St. Francis
Xavier have since wished to have a resting-
place. Is there not a fruitful Apostleship in
suffering, longed for with a holy longing, and in
the lot of a victim patiently borne? Do not
many sinners owe their conversion to conflicts,
anguish, and agonies silently endured by gene-
rous hearts? The Devotion to the Agonising
Heart of Jesus for the salvation of those who
die each day, unites in itself these two Aposto-
lates of Prayer and of Suffering, as is shown by
its Founder in his excellent book, the Apostolate
of Suffering. The idea took its final form in
c

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THE AGONISING HEART.

his mind while he was still a Deacon, studying
theology at Vals. It was not, he says, due to his
own industry or his own reflections. God made
use of him for the growth of this Devotion in the
field of the Church, just as He makes use of
the ground where the grain of wheat falls from
the hand of the sower. Time passes, and on
the day and at the hour appointed by God, the
blade silently springs up.

Before the Very Rev. Father Roothaan,
General of the Society of Jesus, was obliged by
the Revolution of 1848 to leave Rome, he
received the confidence of our humble Reli-
gious, who wrote to him, enclosing a letter
which he begged him to present in person to
His Holiness. The most Rev. Father, so well
known for his learning and wisdom, approved
of the Devotion, became its promoter with the
Head of the Church, and adopted the custom
of saying three times a day this prayer, which
expresses its object and its aim : " O most
merciful Jesus, lover of souls, I pray Thee by
the Agony of Thy most Sacred Heart, and by
the sorrows of thine Immaculate Mother,
cleanse in Thine own Blood the sinners who
are now in their last agony, and are to die this
day. Amen."

" O Heart of Jesus, once in Agony, pity the
dying ! "

By the Decree, which we cite, given at
Naples, in the suburb of Portici, on the 2nd of

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THE DEVOTION.

February, 1850, Pius IX. attached indulgences
to this short prayer. " As it is appointed to
every man once to die, and as an eternity of
glory in Heaven, or an eternity of torment in
hell, depends on the moment of death, it is well
that all the Faithful of Jesus Christ should
often offer up pious supplications to God, the
Father of Mercies, imploring for those who
have come to their last moment, and are about
to expire, the aid of His divine grace, without
which it is impossible to enter into eternal life.
And it will come to pass that in His infinite
goodness the Lord will grant the same mercy to
those who during their life have performed this
office of charity for the dying. Wherefore our
Holy Father, Pius IX., in order to incite faithful
Christians more and more to practise this pious
exercise of prayer for the dying, and in con-
sideration of the supplications which have been
made, that he would open the sacred treasury
of indulgences for this purpose, has been pleased
to grant to all the Faithful of both sexes, an
indulgence of a hundred days every time they
recite with contrition and devotion the prayer
beginning 'O most merciful Jesus/ and the
-versicle ' Heart of Jesus/ in any language,
provided the translation be correct But to
those who with the same dispositions, say this
prayer and versicle at three different times in
the day during a full month, our Holy Father
the Pope, with the same goodness, grants a

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1 6 THE AGONISING HEART.

plenary indulgence on any day that may be
chosen, on condition of previous contrition,
confession, Communion, and prayer of some
minutes for his intentions, in a church or public
oratory. These indulgences are granted for ever,,
and are applicable to the Faithful departed."

On the 22nd of July in the same year, two
treatises published at Avignon by the Rev.
Father Lyonnard, who then lived there, were
approved by Mgr. Debelay, Archbishop of
Avignon, and pronounced well fitted to revive
faith and piety among Christians. They are
entitled Devotion to the Agonising Heart of
Jesus, and Devotion to the Compassionate Heart
of Mary. These works were offered to Pius IX.,
who was pleased to acknowledge them by
Mgr. Fioravanti from Rome, on the 3rd of
April, 1852, in these words: "The Sovereign
Pontiff Pius IX. has received your letter, and
the copy of the book which you have written in
order to promote among the Faithful devotion
to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He
desires me to thank you for this present, and he
duly commends the religious zeal with which
you recal to the veneration of Christians the
Sorrow and the Passion of Christ our Redeemer,
and of the most holy Virgin His Mother. To
this mark of his favour His Holiness is pleased
to add his Apostolic benediction, which he
bestows affectionately on you for the welfare of
your body and your soul."

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THE DEVOTION.

CHAPTER III.

NATURE OF THIS DEVOTION.

Object of veneration, object of supplication. First aim of
Devotion to the Sacred Heart to honour; second aim
to repair. Both attained by Devotion to the Agonising
Heart. Usefulness of the Devotion, a usefulness dis-
tinct from that of the Bona Mors. The four fruits of
a good work.

At the beginning of the first chapter of his
book on this Devotion, the author thus explains
its nature : "The practice which we suggest to
the piety of the Faithful consists in daily offering
a short prayer to the Agonising Heart of Jesus,
in order to obtain the grace of a good death for
those of every age and sex, of every country
and religion, who daily pass from this world
into eternity, to the number of about 80,000.
This practice has a double object, an object of
veneration and an object of supplication. The
object of veneration is the interior suffering of
the Heart of Jesus, the kind of Agony which it
underwent during His whole mortal life, and
especially in the Garden of Olives. The object
of supplication is to gain from that same Heart
the grace of a holy death for those throughout
the whole world who are in their last agony,
those who must die each day. This short
summary is sufficient to explain the nature of
the practice, and no words of ours are needed
to show its excellence."

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1 8 THE AGONISING HEART.

Father de Galliffet defined Devotion to the*
Sacred Heart as " an exercise of religion whose
object is the adorable Heart of Jesus Christ
burning with love for men, whose aim is to
honour that Divine Heart by every homage
that love and gratitude can suggest, and more
particularly to make reparation for the injuries
which He receives in the Sacrament of His-
love."* Father Eudes appears only to have
had the first aim, honour, directly in view.
"What solemnity," he exclaims, "can be more
holy than this, which is the very principle of all
that is great, holy, and venerable in all other
solemnities ? What heart can be more worthy
of adoration, of love, and of admiration, than
the Heart of the God-Man? What honour is
due to that Heart, which has ever rendered, and
will throughout all eternity continue to render,
' more glory and love to God at every moment
than all the hearts of Angels and of men could
render during all eternity ; that Heart which is
occupied day and night with doing us infinite
good, and which was broken on the Cross by
Its excess of love for us !"t The Blessed Mar-
garet Mary had the second aim, of reparation y
specially in view, and our Lord wished her
above all to repair the outrages which are
offered to Him in the Eucharist. He said to

* De Galliffet, De V Excellence de la Devotion au Coeur
Adorable de JSstis Christ, 1. i., cap. iv., 3.
t Vie du P. Eudes, 1. x., p. 368.

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THE DEVOTION.

her : " I would have the first Friday after the
Octave of the Blessed Sacrament sanctified as
a particular Feast, that My Heart may be
honoured by Communions, and by an honour-
able reparation of the indignities which It has
suffered since It has dwelt on the altar."*

The preceding passages clearly show how far
the Devotion to the Agonising Heart resembles
the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, and where
they differ. They have two objects in common,
the honour of the Heart of Jesus, and the repa-
ration of the outrages which It has suffered
from men.

The Devotion to the Agonising Heart grows
from the general Devotion to the Sacred Heart,
as the branch from the tree, joined to it and
yet distinct from it. The Heart of Jesus is ever
one and the same, but this Devotion has one
especial aspect — Its past, not Its present state ;
Its mortal, not Its sacramental or glorious life.
It honours those continual inward griefs by
which It was formerly oppressed, and above all
Its Agony in the Garden of Olives. The repa-
ration is also special in its character. It is not
a direct reparation of the outrages endured by
the Sacred Heart in the Eucharist, though
indeed some part of the long Agony of the
Heart of Jesus was caused by the dying who
refuse the Holy Viaticum. It is simply a repa-
ration of the great outrage, the most cruel of all

* Memoires de la Vie de la B, Marguerite Marie, n. 54.

THE AGONISING HEART.

that can be pffered to that loving Heart, the
outrage of those who despise Its love, Its
.graces, and benefits, who will die in impeni-
tence and lose their souls, to redeem which
every drop of Its Blood was shed.

But the reparation thus offered to the
Agonising Heart of the Saviour is most pleasing
to Him, and invaluable to us. It forestalls the
•evil in order to prevent it, instead of following
it slowly in order to efface its stains. And as
the most perfect manner of redemption is that
which the Son of God employed in regard of
the creature who was to be His Mother, by
preserving her from even the original taint of
sin, so the most perfect reparation for the
thousands of sinners who die each day is one
which rescues them from final impenitence,
instead of merely seeking to console the Heart
of Jesus for their eternal damnation.

It cannot then be said that this Devotion is
a needless addition to the many works of our
day which prove so short-lived, either because
they are not needed, or either because their
origin cannot be sufficiently traced to past ages.
In its purpose it is as old as the world, as wide
as human nature, as durable as the Church
militant, for death belongs to all times and all
places, and many men, alas ! are in danger of
dying as they have lived, far from God, and
from the way of salvation. As to its means, it
seconds the constant solicitude and the principal

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THE DEVOTION.

effort of the Church, whose object is to obtain,
by prayer and suffering, as well as by energetic
action, that the just may end a good life by a
still better death, and for sinners, that they may
meet death in such a way that it may atone in
some degree for the sinfulness of their lives.
"Perhaps," adds the author of this Devotion,
"it may be said that our practice is useless,
because its purpose is already realised by the
Confraternity of the Bona Mors. But a
moment's reflection suffices to do away with
this objection. For, not to dwell on the diffe-
rent nature of the homage which each of these
Associations renders to our Lord (the Confra-
ternity of the Bona Mors not taking the Sacred
Heart as its special object of veneration), is
there not a most manifest difference between
the practical aims of each ? The most worthy
and excellent Confraternity of the Bona Mors
has for its end the good death of its own
members. It is circumscribed by local limits.
The Association of the Agonising Heart, on the
contrary, aims at obtaining a good death for all
who are in their last agony throughout the
whole world. It is Catholic in the literal sense
of the word, for by prayers it embraces not only
the dying of one country, one Association, or
one family, but the dying of the universe, rich
and poor, great and small, the believer and the
unbeliever. Moreover, it is for those who are
actually dying this very day, hence the daily

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THE AGONISING HEART.

prayer which is prescribed as its fundamental
practice. There is, therefore, a real distinction
between the Confraternity of the Bona Mors
and the Association in honour of the Agonising
Heart of Jesus ; the one is a means by which
the Faithful may prepare themselves for that last
passage, the other is a means by which they
may prepare others. It is ruled by a spirit of
zeal. It desires, by the help of God, to do for
the dying a work similar to that which the
Propagation of the Faith does for the heathen,
that is, to gain the grace of salvation for them
by daily supplication, as that other admirable
Association, by means of its weekly alms, added
to the prayers of its members, endeavours to
gain for unbelievers the divine gift of faith.*

Not only by prayer, but also by every action
of our lives, we may honour the Agonising
Heart of Jesus, and contribute to the salvation
of those who die each day. Every good work
performed in a state of grace produces four
kinds of fruit The first is merit, and this
merit belongs to the Christian who performs it
Then there is satisfaction, and this satisfaction
may be applied by way of assistance to our
departed friends. In the third place there is
glory to our Lord and the Saints, and this glory
may be directed by our intention to the Agonis-
ing Heart of the Son of God. The last fruit is

* Lyonnard, La Devotion au Cceur Ago?iisant de yesus,
cap. vii.

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THE DEVOTION.

2 3

one of impetration; it obtains grace for the living,
whether they be righteous or sinners, and this
fruit may be applied to the poor souls who die
every day, to win for them the graces of con-
version, salvation, and final perseverance.

Such is the vast field which lies before the
pious members of our Association. Each step
they take in the right way, each act of virtue
they perform, however small it may be, adds
something to their own personal merits for all
eternity, and also consoles the Heart of Jesus in
Its Agony, and helps to complete the harvest of
the Elect, on which He has spent His labours,
His griefs, and His bloody sweat. May we not
truly say, "The harvest indeed is great, but the
labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord
of the harvest, that He may send forth labourers
into His harvest." Pray to Jesus in His Agony,
pray to His Divine Heart, and bestir yourselves
with zeal and perseverance, in order to recruit
labourers, members of this Association, from all
ranks and from all ages.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

CHAPTER IV.

THE OBJECT OF OUR VENERATION.

As we have already seen, this Devotion presents
the Agonising Heart of the Divine Master to
our veneration. By this very act it united itself
to the Devotion to the Sacred Heart and the
Devotion to the Holy Agony. This connection
has often been pointed out by pious authors
who have dwelt on all the afflictions of the
God-Man, especially His Agony on the Mount of
Olives, as centred in His Heart. How often
when they speak of His interior sufferings is
His Heart mentioned ! This may be observed
in almost every page of the Agony of Jesus,
where we have purposely placed a capital at the
beginning of the word, as often as it refers to
our Divine Lord. It may be observed that
these three kindred Devotions sprung up in
France, by a merciful design of Providence in
favour of a nation which is full of heart and
generosity, yet hurried on to many miseries by
carelessness and religious indifference. French

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THE DEVOTION.

authors are those who have most constantly
referred all the Agonies of Jesus to His Sacred
Heart We cite some passages, not so much in
proof of this, as for the sake of making the
object of our veneration better known. Father
Guillore', of the Society of Jesus, writes thus :
" His Heart was constantly wounded afresh,
and His Soul was always oppressed with the
deepest sadness. O poor, forsaken, agonising
soul ! "* Another Religious of the same Order
says : " He was first wounded in His Heart ; O
God, what agony to suffer thirty years in His
Heart what He was at last to suffer in every
member of His Body ! "t The Founder of the
Oratory, Cardinal de Berulle, had already said :
" His Heart was pierced by grief before It was
pierced by the lance. That grief overwhelmed
It in life, and the lance pierced It in death. "J
Father Eudes, the Founder of the Congregation
of Jesus and Mary, goes into further details : —
" Our sins are the first cause of the most
grievous wounds of the Divine Heart of our
Redeemer. I have read in the life of St. Catha-
rine of Genoa, that one day God showed to her
the horrible nature of the smallest venial sin,

* Guillore, Confirmees Spirititelles, 1. i., conf. iii.,
sec. 3; Des Maximes Spirituelles, t. i., 1. iii., maxime
xviii., cap. ii.

+ Ragon, Le Calvaire, entretien iv., p. 2, n. vii.

% De Berulle, (Etwres, Paris, 1665 ; (Ettvres de Pitte,
n. lxvii.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

and she assures us that though the sight lasted
only one moment, it was so fearful, that the
blood froze in her veins, she felt as if she were
in her last agony, and must have died, but that
God miraculously preserved her to tell others
what she had seen. She further said, that were
she plunged in an abyss of fire and flames, and
were escape offered to her on condition of
beholding that sight again, she would remain
where she was rather than again encounter it.
Now, if the sight of the smallest venial sin was
so terrible to the Saint, what must we think of
the state to which our Saviour was reduced by
the sight of all the sins of the universe ? For
they were all continually before His eyes, and
inasmuch as His insight was infinitely clearer than
St. Catharine's, they appeared infinitely more
horrible to Him. The sight of these sins
pierced His Heart with innumerable wounds.
Count, if you can, all the sins of men, which
are greater in number than the drops of water
in the sea, and then you may count the wounds
of the loving Heart of Jesus."*

"The second cause of these wounds is the
infinite love of that Heart for all Its children,
and the sight of all their troubles and afflictions,
especially the torments of the holy Martyrs.
When a tender mother sees a child suffer, she
feels the pain even more acutely than he does.
Our Lord loves us so much, that if the love of
* Eudes, Le Cosur Admirable, t. i., 1. vi., cap. i.

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THE DEVOTION.

all fathers and mothers were gathered into one
heart, it would not equal one spark of that love
which burns for us in His Heart Therefore,
all our sorrows and griefs being ever clearly
and distinctly present before His eyes, were so
many bleeding wounds in His paternal Heart,
wounds so deep and so painful that they would
have caused His death thousands and thousands
of times during His life, and even at the very
moment of His birth, unless that life had been
miraculously preserved, for during its whole
course His Heart was pierced by all these
mortal wounds. All the crosses and afflictions
of His children converged towards His tender
Heart, as towards their centre, and no mind
can understand the martyrdom It has suffered.
Oh, how truly may It be called the King of
Martyrs, the Centre of the Cross ! Oh, what
consolation for the afflicted in the knowledge
that all their afflictions have passed through the
most benign Heart of Jesus, and that He has
first borne them for their sakes ! "*

On the Feast of St. John the Evangelist,
1674, Blessed Margaret Mary had a vision
which bears on the same subject. " The Heart
of Jesus," she says, " appeared to me upon a
fiery throne, It radiated light on every side, It
was more brilliant than the sun, and clear as
crystal. The Wound which It received on the
Cross was visible; a crown of thorns surrounded
* Eudes, 8me Meditation,

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THE AGONISING HEART.

It, and a cross seemed to stand on It. My
Divine Master let me know that these instru-
ments of His Passion meant that the immense
love of His Heart for men had been the source
of all His sufferings ; that from the first instant
of His Incarnation all these torments had been
present to Him, that from the first moment the
Cross was, so to speak, planted in His Heart ;
that He then accepted all the griefs and humili-
ations to be suffered by His Holy Humanity
during His mortal life, as well as all the out-
rages to which His love for men would expose
Him, by remaining with them for ever in the
Blessed Sacrament."*

Thus the object of our veneration, the ador-
able Heart of Jesus, was always agonised on
three accounts — (i.) horror of sin, which is an
outrage to God; (2.) compassion for the ills
which afflict men; and (3.) foresight of Its own
sufferings. Our preachers have not spoken of
the second ; of the third they only say, " Jesus
sees all the torments He is to suffer, He has in
His Heart the Cross and Mount Calvary, the
synagogue and the conduct of the Romans ;"t"
but the first has been developed at length.
"Man sinned first by his heart, and so Jesus
is first punished in His Heart — where sin began
in the one, the penalty begins in the other. The
Heart of Jesus was crucified in the Garden,

* Languet, La Vie de la B. Marguerite Marie, 1. vii.
T Jiouzeis, Sermon x. sitr la Passion.

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THE DEVOTION.

2 9

before His Body was crucified on Mount
Calvary, by a crucifixion even more severe,
because sin employed more hands to perform
it."* "His Heart writhes, and is transformed
and melted at the sight before him."t

"Without this interior Agony, the satisfaction
of Jesus Christ would not have been complete.
The sufferings of His Body were destined to
expiate the transgressions of our bodies, the
licence of our looks was to be effaced by His
Tears, the sensuality of our repasts by the
bitter gall that was offered to Him, the vanity
of our attire by the thorns on His Head, the
idleness of our conversations by His rigorous
silence in the midst of torments ; but, after all,
these things are but the outward part, the body
of sin ; reparation must be made for the inner
man by the interior sufferings of Jesus Christ,
the secret transgressions of our heart and mind
must be expiated by the Agony of His. It is
on account of the criminal joys on which your
heart loves to dwell, its continual dissipation
among the pleasures of the world, the satisfac-
tion you sometimes find in your very faults,
that the Heart of Jesus is overwhelmed with
sorrow. It is because of the deadly security in
which you live, steeped as you are in sinfulness,
that the Soul of Jesus is oppressed. It is for

* Hubert, Sermon pour le Vendredi Sainf, 2e point.
+ G. Terrasson, Sermon pour le Vendredi Saint,
ier point.

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30 THE AGONISING HEART.

the subtle pride of seemingly pious people, for
the secret enmities fostered by the vindictive,
for the impure thoughts of the voluptuous, for
the evil motives of hyprocrites — in a word, for
all spiritual sins, that the Heart of Jesus Christ
is sorrowful unto death."* "As the sin of
Adam had its beginning in the depths of his
heart, before it was actually committed, so the
greatest sufferings of the Son of God were
graven in His Heart; and in the Garden of
Olives he endured a Passion of the Soul scarcely
shared by the Passion of the Body, but which
will increase in process of time and in the same
proportion as sin, for which it is the remedy,
grows, extends, and is multiplied after it has
once arisen in the human heart. The sorrow
of Jesus Christ begins in His Heart; it will
continue till it comes to perfection, and that
perfection will be the Death of the Victim.
His Soul is bowed down with sorrow, for as
Adam's sin began by secret pride His Passion
begins by a sadness which weighs down His
Soul. It is to be observed that He declares
His sadness, not to His Father, but to His
Disciples, to show us that it is at once a sacrifice
and a lesson. He teaches us where our peni-
tence must begin if it is to be true — even in the
depths of our hearts. For, the will being the
principle and source of our actions, we are

* De la Roche, Sermon pour le Vendredi de la Semainc
Sainte, 3e point.

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THE DEVOTION.

sinners in so far as our will is opposed to God
and rises against Him; we are real penitents
only when it submits and when the heart is
changed."*

How great was the Agony of the Heart of
Jesus from these manifold causes ! No one
can imagine it, and Christian orators of former
ages have vainly tried to give an idea of it.

He who was associated in the work of Blessed
Margaret Mary, exclaims, "O incomprehen-
sible grief, incredible bitterness of the Heart of
Jesus, rendering Him insensible to sufferings so
violent, making them even seem to Him a kind
of solace. Yes, in each torture inflicted on
the Son of God, the Soul has had a thousand
times greater share than the Body."t Another
preacher of the same period says, " Tormentors,
you cannot touch the living Heart of Jesus
Christ. His Head indeed is given up to your
thorns, His Shoulders to your scourges, His
Feet and Hands to your nails, but as for the
living Heart of a God, it is God alone Who can
pierce It with grief." X A little later we find
these words from Father la Pesse, "We may
adore His Agonising Heart, and call Him, in

* Dom Jerome, Sermon pour le Vendredi Saint,
ier partie.

T De la Colombiere, Sermon pour le jour de la Passion,
ier partie.

% De Fromentieres, Sermon ii. pour le Vendredi Saint,
ier partie.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

the words of the Prophet (Isaias liii. 3), Virum
dolorum, scientem infirmitatem — "A Man of
sorrows, Who is full of the sufferings He is
enduring."* And Perusseau adds, "The Heart
of Jesus was crucified in the Garden of Olives
before His Body was crucified on the Mountain
of Calvary, and the Cross in the Garden was
bitterer than the Cross on the Mountain. "t
Lastly, another preacher of the Society of
Jesus, Perrin, speaks of the Anguish and the
Bloody Sweat of Gethsemane as a cruel and a
sanguinary sacrifice, in which the Heart of
Jesus is at once Priest, Altar, and Victim. %

CHAPTER V.

ADVANTAGES OF THIS DEVOTION.

Social utility of every Catholic devotion. Fruitfulness of
Devotion to the Heart of Jesus. It is reasonable to
honour the Agonising Heart. It is just to give It
thanks. It is useful to pray to It. Charity in the
Garden of the Church.

All the quotations which we have made in the
preceding chapter are from authors of the last
two centuries. It is, then, no new custom to
bring the Agonising Heart of the God-Man
before the Faithful as an object of their love

* La Pesse, Sermon lxvii. sur la Passion, ier partie.
+ Perusseau, Sermon xv. de la Passion, ier point.
X Perrin, Sermon xxxii. sur la Passion, ier partie.

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THE DEVOTION.

and worship. Such veneration could not long
remain barren, for everything in the Church,
whether it be of the nature of pious custom or
of holy doctrine, has its social utility. The age
in which we live required a proof of this, and
we ought to endeavour to increase such vene-
ration.

The Beloved Disciple of the Heart of Jesus,
the Apostle St John, saw a clear river pro-
ceeding from the Throne of the Lamb of God,
and on both sides of the river the tree of life,
yielding its fruits every month, for the healing
of the nations (Apoc. xxii. i, 2). What is the
Throne of the Lamb of God amongst us ? The
altar, the tabernacle, where He really abides,
where He receives our homage. What is the
clear river proceeding from it? The river of
all the graces contained in the Eucharist, the
river of all the sacraments. And what are the
two trees of life growing one on each side of
this torrent of graces ? The Sacred Heart of
Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which
have ever made the earth produce fruits of
salvation, and which even at the moment when
the condition of nations seemed most hopeless
have blossomed afresh to restore them to health
and to hope. How many useful works have
arisen and have prospered under the protection
of the adorable Hearts of Jesus and Mary!
What may we not expect, in these days of
^miction, from the Agonising Heart of the Son

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THE AGONISING HEART.

and the compassionate Heart of the Mother?
That tree of life planted by the torrent of all
graces, the Divine Heart of the Son of Mary,
says to us, "I am the Vine, you are the
branches ; he that abideth in Me and I in him,
the same beareth much fruit" (John xv. 5).
What is it that sends through the branches the
vital sap, without which they would be barren ?
Each pulsation of the Heart of Jesus. What is
it which suits their fruitfulness to the needs of
the time, producing a beneficent variety ? The
Heart of Jesus, ever more lavish of its treasure
as the world becomes more selfish, more
inflamed with love as charity grows colder.
Under Its strong and sweet influence numbers
of men and women have been found ready to
practise self-abnegation and devotion to their
neighbours. They have given up the joys of an
earthly family to form spiritual families, where,
by their instruction and training, they have led
little ones to share in the blessings of the
Sacred Heart ; by the work of the Apostolic
Ministry they have brought sinners back to Its
love, and by contemplation they have joined in
the homage which it constantly renders to God.
Though still in the world, the Faithful of all
classes gather constantly round the altar, to
adore, to love, and to imitate the gentle and
humble Heart of Jesus, as truly present in the
consecrated Host as in the Bosom of His
glorified Human Form in Heaven. Therefore

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THE DEVOTION.

there is a rich and touching variety in the
works and devotions which love for the Heart
of Jesus constantly originates. How eagerly,
for example, is the Communion of Reparation
everywhere adopted, because it consoles at
once the Heart of the Son and the Heart of
the Mother!

But after having considered the Heart of
Jesus as a whole, zeal for Its glory necessarily
proceeds to contemplate the divine masterpiece
in Its different aspects, with a view of offering
to each a special honour. The subject is inex-
haustible, and its infinite variety in unity will be
the eternal admiration of the Blessed in Heaven,
as it is already our happiness on earth. The
Faithful have been invited, in the Annals of the
Blessed Sacrament (i860),* to offer to the
Eucharistic Heart of Jesus a perpetual adora-
tion of thanksgivings and reparations. A
sanctuary has been raised in Its honour, and
prayers have been approved and circulated.
In accordance with the pious wishes of the
generous person who wrote that invitation, built
the chapel, and distributed the prayers, we
mean this year to publish a treatise called The
Eucharistic Heart. It is indeed the same Sacred
Heart that has already been honoured, for the
Divine Master has made known His desire that
a special reparation should be offered for the

* Annates du S. Sacrement^ t. ii., p. 325 — 352, Avril,
i860.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

outrages that He receives in the Sacrament of
the Altar,* but the form of that honour was not
hitherto so definite or the homage so complete.
So again, although the Agonies of the God-Man
and the martyrdom of His Heart have always
been an object of worship, the moment was to
come when that worship was to be more pecu-
liar and distinct, and to have a special aim of
its own.

Is it not reasonable to honour the Agonising
Heart of Jesus? We are not content with
honouring His Humanity in general, but we
pay particular honour to each member of His
Sacred Body, which has been tortured for our
sakes. The Five Wounds of our Lord, the
Crown of Thorns, the Lance, the Nails, the
Precious Blood, the Cross, the Holy Winding
Sheet, each painful instrument of our redemp-
tion has become the object of a special Feast
Does it not follow as a legitimate consequence
that we ought to venerate that which suffered
the most, which contributed most largely to our
salvation, and is in Itself the most worthy of
our adoration, I mean the very Heart of the
Redeemer — that Heart which has suffered so
much only because It has loved us so much?
The physical sufferings of our Saviour were
surpassed in intensity and in duration by His
mental sufferings.

Is it not just to give thanks to the Agonising
* Daniel, Histoire de la B. Marguerite Marie, cap. xii.

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THE DEVOTION. 37

Heart of Jesus, seeing that by the merit of Its
past sufferings we enjoy infinite benefits, and by
the never-failing virtue of its surpassing Agonies
we are encouraged, consoled, and fortified ?
When trouble overtakes us, when inward
sorrows oppress us, when our heart is ready
to break under the weight of Its burden, where
shall we seek for refuge, save in the Arms of
Jesus hanging in agony on the Cross ? Where
shall we look for help and support but in the
Heart of Jesus suffering Agonies in the Garden
of Olives ? Where shall we turn for light and
consolation but to the example of Jesus in
Agony throughout His whole life ? Everything
is out of sorts in our present state of society ;
the earth brings forth thorns, the vineyard bears
no fruit for Heaven, virtues are tainted by a
corrupt atmosphere, but is not Jesus with His
suffering Heart bending over us like the good
Samaritan, and pouring oil and vinegar into our
wounds ? Is He not here to water the earth
again, to make the vineyard fruitful, and to give
forth a sweet perfume like the rose of Jericho ?
Let us show Him our gratitude, and respond to
the following invitation addressed to the Faithful
early in the last century: "Christian soul,
behold and consider how much the Heart of
Jesus has suffered for you. Come to the Mount
of Olives, and behold the new Adam, watering
the earth with the sweat of His Brow, with His
own Blood, that it may bring forth fruit Look

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38 THE AGON&ING HEART.

at the Beloved Son of the Eternal Father
painfully cultivating this barren vineyard, and
refreshing it with a dew of Blood, that at last it
may rejoice the eye of its Master. Behold this
Cypress Grape before He is bruised in the wine-
press of the Cross, yielding of its own accord
the wine of virgins, and dyeing His robe, the
Church, in that precious stream. Tears and
fragrance are distilled from that mystical Rose
of Jericho by the fire of love that burns in the
Heart of Jesus, and the odour of sweetness
rises to the throne of the Heavenly Father for
the salvation of the world. This Good Samaritan,
at the outset of His sad Passion, bows Himself
to the earth, where poor human nature is help-
lessly lying wounded, on its way to Heaven, by
infernal thieves ; He pours oil and wine into
our wounds, as a healing balm and a remedy
against death. Most holy and loving Heart,
who can help sharing Thy sadness? who can
fail to be touched with compassion for Thee?
O Jesus, my Love, I am guilty, and Thou dost
suffer ! With what depth of gratitude ought not
my heart to be filled."*

Is it not useful to pray to the Agonising
Heart of Jesus for the afflicted and for the
dying ? In so doing we console His sorrow, we
draw unlimited benedictions from an ocean ot
graces, we practice charity towards God and

* Ginther, Speculum Attwris et Doloris, consid. xxxiii.,.
n. 6.

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THE DEVOTION. 39

towards our neighbour. The ardent interces-
sions of countless souls, the help which they
gain for the wretched, show that they have their
part in that spiritual Priesthood of which the
Scriptures speak when they call the Faithful a
" holy nation " (Exod. xix. 6), " the kingly
Priesthood " (i Peter ii. 9), " Kings and
Priests " (Apoc. v. 10). Is not suffering itself
a priesthood, when resignation makes our heart
like the Heart of Jesus, at once altar, Priest,
and victim ? How can it fail to be fruitful,
when it unites itself by prayer to the most
loving of all hearts ? If we love to place flowers
around His image, or His earthly tabernacle,
must we not long still more to gather souls from
destruction, that they may shine around His
Heavenly throne, like living and beautiful
blossoms ?

The Church is a mystical garden, watered
by the Blood of Calvary, and the tears of
Oethsemane, and death comes there daily to
collect flowers for God and the Angels. Alas !
how many are not worthy to be offered to
our Lord, and are only fit to be cast into
the fire like vile weeds! The scorching heat
of passion, the worm of sin, the blast of a
worldly, dissipated life, have blighted and
withered them in the sight of God. What will
give them back a little of their freshness and
.glory, that death may not cast them into the
eternal fire ? Praying love, active and suffering

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AO THE AGONISING HEART.

love, united in devotion to the Agonising Heart
of Jesus ! Prayer fills the fountains, whence
patience and action draw water to refresh these
fading flowers. The gardener who has a clear
running stream at his command can do much to
restore the beauty of his flowers by watering
them every evening. And so in the evening of
life our dear dying ones must be refreshed
before the dark night hides them from our eyes.
How happy and beautiful will they be when
they meet us in the eternal light of day, if by
our efforts they have succeeded in coming to
Jesus Christ ! Oh, Agonising Heart of our
Good Master, what a triumph for Thee, what a
joy for us ! Oh, give us, we beseech Thee, zeal,
and active compassion, and a spirit of prayer,
that we may pay Thee the homage of consoling
Thee by our veneration of Thy Holy Name !

CHAPTER VI.

LET US CONSOLE THE AGONISING HEART OF
JESUS.

We console It by imitation. By converting the dying.
How much the sight of the lost afflicted It. How
much the sight of our efforts consoles It.

From the earliest days of the Christian Church,
compassionate souls in all ranks of society have
gathered round the Man of Sorrows to adore
Him by becoming His angels of consolation-

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THE DEVOTION.

And how have they consoled Him ? By
resemblance and by zeal ; by their care to
imitate Him and bear Him company in His
sorrows and His desolation, and by their efforts
to bring back the strayed sheep whose wander-
ings have been the chief cause of His Agony.

By the agony of renunciation and poverty, by
the agony of desolation and loneliness, by the
agony of humiliation and contempt — in short,
by resemblance to our Agonising Lord, do we
bear Him company in His Anguish, and enter
into His very Heart. A poor and humble girl,
known by the name of the good Armelle, who
had for years suffered a spiritual agony, speaks
on this subject in words which we will quote;
and let us not blame her mode of expression,
for when our Lord speaks to one of His
creatures, He condescends to adapt Himself to
the limits of its intelligence and the simplicity
of its heart.

" I found myself," she says, " dwelling in the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, with such love, and
glory, and liberty, that I could not understand
it. I was free and at my ease. I saw that this
Divine Heart was so large, that a thousand
worlds would not fill It. I saw that all those
who dwell there by love enjoy true and entire
liberty, and wondrous peace ; but on the other
hand, I saw that the door was so small, and so
narrow, that very few could come in. In
astonishment I said, 'Oh, my Love and my All,

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THE AGONISING HEART.

whence comes it that Thy Heart is so large and
spacious, and yet the door of entrance so small
and narrow ? ' Then our Lord made it known
to me that it was because He would have none
but the little, the naked* and the lonely enter
there. The little are those who with all their
heart become lowly and humble for love of
Him ; they can enter, but others cannot ; for
how can a person who is great and puffed up
with self-esteem pass through so small a door ?
The naked are those who withdraw their hearts
from the desire of the riches and comforts of
this life; as for those who are laden with
bundles of gold and silver, or other things, it is-
impossible for them to pass through such a
narrow opening. The lonely are those who cut
off their love from all creatures ; for love bind&
the heart to its object, and two persons who are
bound together cannot enter at once where
there is barely room for one."*

And what are the three causes which most
frequently plunge us into a state of extreme
suffering? Humiliation, which makes us little, -
losses, which leave us naked; abandonment,
which makes us lonely. To be abased, to lose
one's goods, to be forsaken, these are graces
which the Agonising Heart of Jesus bestows
on us, to make us like Him. But they are not
received with gratitude or resignation, save by

* La Vie de la bonne Armelle, par Jeanne de la
Nativite, Ursuline, 1. i., ch. xxi., n. 8.

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THE DEVOTION. 43

souls devoted to His Agony, compassionate
and generous enough to wish really to resemble
Him and be with Him.

Zeal for the conversion of the dying consoles
the Agonising Heart of Jesus ; for the cause of
His most cruel sufferings was the distinct sight
of the lost. By His infallible foreknowledge
and tender love, our Saviour had the Agony of
all those sinners who die impenitent, and incur
eternal punishment, present to His sight. " How
could the most loving, and most pitiful of all
hearts, be insensible to so overwhelming a
spectacle? David, in the grief of his heart at
the death of an ungrateful and rebellious son,
cries out, ' My son Absalom ! Absalom, my
son! would that I might die for thee!' (2 Kings
xviii. 33). St. Paul, changed from a persecutor
to an Apostle, suffers as it were the pains of
travail till Christ be formed in the souls confided
to his care (Gal. iv. 19). Every day we see
how mothers sacrifice themselves to mere natural
affection, how they watch by the sick beds of
their children, how they are worn with grief at
the very thought of losing them. And can the
Word of God, made Man to save us, the only
Son of a Father who is Love Itself, and a
Mother who is incarnate charity, can He be
without pity and compassion for the miserable
multitudes who are daily on the very brink of
destruction ? The sight saddens us, must it not
have rent the loving Heart of our gentle

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THE AGONISING HEART.

Saviour ? No one doubts that the evil life of a
sinner afflicts the Heart of Jesus. But if this
sinner is converted at the hour of death, a
reparation is made which consoles Him ; at
least He has not the pain of seeing that His
sufferings are useless. But if a life of iniquity
continues to the last moment, if the sinner dies
in final impenitence, then indeed the Heart of
Jesus must have been overwhelmed with grief.
Oh, my Divine Master, we know too little of
the deep wound made in Thy Heart by this sad
thought of the future, by the sight of so many
.souls who are determined to despise Thy love,
-and to perish for ever! From Thy childhood
this sword pierced Thy holy soul."*

Our Lord Himself condescended to make
the following revelation to the Blessed Varani :
"Oh, how cruelly My Heart was torn by the
sight of so many lost souls, so many members
wrenched from My Body, never to be reunited
to Me their Head ! Never, that fatal never, will
be through all eternity the greatest of all possible
torments to those wretched souls. And to Me
what can be more sorrowful than that never i
Ah ! how willingly would I again have suffered
all those separations, with all imaginable pains
— and that not once, but an infinite number of
times — for the joy of seeing, I say not all, but
even a single one of those souls restored to the
number of My living members, of those Elect
* Divotion au Cctur Agonisattt de Jhns t ch. iii.

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THE DEVOTION.

who will live eternally by a life proceeding
from Me, the very Life of all the living. Learn
then how dear to Me are the souls of men,
since I would have suffered so much to bring
one back to Me. And know also that, by
reason of My justice, this 'never' is so terrible
to the lost that there is not one amongst them
who would not be ready to endure the torments
of a thousand hells at once for the hope of
being reunited to Me in the most distant of
future ages. But it can never be, and this is
the fulness of their misery, the most fearful of
their sufferings. The punishments in store for
human iniquities are proportioned by My strict
justice to the pain which each mortal sin has
inflicted on My Heart. Eternity has no torture
like that pitiless * never' This consideration
applies to all sins without exception. Behold,
then, My daughter, behold and consider how
My soul was rent, even till the very moment of
death, by the sight of the multitude of the lost
who were all at once before My sight."*

Therefore we ought to console Jesus in His
Agony, not only by following His example in
our sufferings, but also by our zeal for the con-
version of the dying. He saw all our sins,
during His Agony, but He also saw our efforts,
and as He was then saddened by the faults we
are now committing, so He found consolation

* B. Varani, TraitS des Doulcurs inttriatrts dc JSsus
Christ, ch. i.

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4 6

THE AGONISING HEART.

in the conversions we are now obtaining. While
He suffered unspeakable Agony in the Garden
of Olives, His Divine Father sent an Angel
from Heaven to strengthen Him (Luke xxii. 43).
Was He, then, so completely abandoned on the
Cross as to have none to console Him ? " Not
so," replies a pious author, " but He who com-
forted Him in the Garden by an Angel comforted
Him on the Cross by the penitent thief (Luke
xxiii. 42). The conversion of that malefactor,
the salvation of one soul rescued by His Blood
from the flames of hell, consoled our dying
Saviour more than all the Angelic choirs could
have done had they left Heaven and gathered
round His Cross."* His Passion was not in
vain ; in that one converted sinner our Saviour
saw all the sinners who turn to Him at their last
moment, and when His Heart was opened by
the lance, Paradise was opened for them by His
mercy and love. The more we multiply con-
versions among the dying the more we multiply
the consolations of our Divine Master. If you
would be angels of consolation to His Agony,
then, become apostles to His dying creatures.

* Ginther, Speculum Amoris et Do/oris, consid. xix.,
n. 5.

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THE DEVOTION.

47-

CHAPTER VII.

THE OBJECT OF OUR SUPPLICATIONS.

Devotion to the Heart of Jesus an excellent preparation
for a holy death. The Agonising Heart invoked for
the salvation of the dying. The last agony. Terrors
of the dying sinner. We cannot perfectly describe the
last agony, but we can sanctify it by prayers.

Devotion to the Agonising Heart of Jesus has •
for the object of its supplication the eternal
salvation of those who die each day. There is
a fitness in this, for must not the dying Saviour
be disposed to show special mercy and com-
passion to the dying? And has not devotion
to His Sacred Heart ever been a token of
predestination, an excellent preparation for a
holy death ?

Let us quote Father Eudes and the Blessed
Margaret Mary, two names which we love and
associate for their common glory, as well as for
the honour of his disciples and of her sisters.
"The Nun of the Visitation," says her bio-
grapher, "received from on high a special
mission, marked with a miraculous character —
it was that of confidant and authorised inter-
preter of the Heart of Jesus." At the same
time, the Founder of the Eudistes, following
the impulses of his devotion, had been pre-
paring the hearts of the Faithful to listen to-
the appeals of the Divine Heart. We read in
his life : " Besides the annual Retreat, which he

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THE AGONISING HEART.

never omitted, he generally spent ten days at
another time of the year in a series of pious
exercises which formed a preparation for death.
In the year 1673 he wrote a memorandum,
which he put in a place known to his brethren,
begging them to open it in the event of his
serious illness. It was an instruction as to the
means he wished them to employ to prepare
him for a good death. He specially urged
them to have the sacraments administered
while he retained the perfect use of his reason.
He wished to gain all the indulgences for the
hour of death attached to medals and to the
recitation of certain prayers. He begged that
in case he should lose consciousness before
having made all the acts of his preparation for
death, some one else should pronounce them
for him in his presence, most particularly the
acts of faith, and of that entire submission to
the decisions of authority which characterises
the true children of the Church. His con-
cluding wish shows his tender piety. He
desired (we give his own words) i that the
-grains of dust into which his miserable body
should be dissolved might become so many
hearts and tongues to praise God, to love and
glorify the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
and to adore and bless the Holy Trinity for the
treasure bestowed on his Congregation by the
.gift of those adorable Hearts.* "*

* De Montigny, Vie du P. Elides, I. x.

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THE DEVOTION.

The Blessed Daughter of St Francis of Sales
writes : — " Secular persons will find in this
Adorable Heart their place of refuge during life,
and, above all, at the hour of death. How
sweet is death to those who have had a constant
devotion to the Sacred Heart of Him Who is
to be our Judge ! "* She herself furnishes a
proof of this. She wished to prepare herself
to appear before God by a Retreat of forty days,
and we have the record of her sentiments of
confidence and love : " I purpose to make a
Retreat in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ
I expect and hope for all the merciful help I
require. I have put my whole trust in Him,
for His great goodness has never disappointed
me when I have turned to him; on the con-
trary, it seems pleasing to Him to have to
deal with a creature as wretched and miser-
able and needy as I am, that He may bestow
His infinite riches on my poverty. Only let
me love Thee eternally, O my God, and then
do with me what Thou wilt. I am insolvent —
Thou seest it, my Divine Master. Put me in
prison, I am ready, but let it be in Thy Sacred
Heart ; and when I am there keep me captive,
bound by the chains of Thy love, till I have
paid Thee all I owe. And as I can never do
this, I never wish to leave my prison." When
death approached she begged those around her
to say the Litanies of the Heart of Jesus, and

* Languet, Vie de la B, Marguerite Marie, 1. vi., fin.
F

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50 THE AGONISING HEART.

she exclaimed — " Yes, I hope that by the love
of the Heart of Jesus we shall go to the house
of the Lord, and that before long. I want
nothing but only God, and I would lose myself
eternally in the Heart of Jesus Christ."*

In the progress of the general Devotion to
the Sacred Heart a moment naturally came
when the Faithful began specially to invoke the
Agonising Heart of their good Master, to obtain
a holy last agony for themselves or for others.
The great thing to be gained for multitudes of
sinners daily summoned by death into the
presence of their Judge is an agonising heart,
agonising with penitence, agonising with a real,
supernatural, great and universal sorrow, like
the sorrow of the Heart of Jesus in the Garden
of Olives. What an undertaking ! What a
work ! How earnestly ought we to turn to the
Saviour's Agonising Heart and pray Him, in the
name of the dying — Cor mundum crea in mc,
Deus (Psalm i. 1 2). O God, create in me an
agonising heart, for only by agony can my heart
be pure ! It must be bruised and broken by
contrition before it can follow Thee to Heaven,
where nothing enters that is not perfectly pure.

The grace of final perseverance is placed so
high that it can only be won by great efforts of
prayer and supplication. No one can merit it
for himself, no one can secure it for another,
save by a particular favour of God. And how
* Languet, Vie de la B. Marguerite Marie, 1. ix.

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THE DEVOTION.

-can we obtain such a favour except by long and
•earnest prayers, like those of our Saviour in His
Agony? Therefore the Church has constantly
urged on the Faithful fervent prayer for the
salvation of the dying, and for this purpose the
agonies of death have been often portrayed to
them. St. Ephrem, Deacon of Edessa in the
fourth century, spoke thus : " Do you not see
what terrible things happen to the dying ? What
sighs they heave? They are bathed in sweat
like labourers in the harvest-field, but it is a
cold and deadly sweat. How restlessly they
turn their eyes ! how they gnash their teeth !
Some rave, some are in a state of torpor and
of terror. Some tear their hair, some rush from
their beds and wish to flee, but they cannot.
They see things they have never seen before,
they hear what they have never heard before,
they suffer what they have never suffered before.
They seek a deliverer and no one delivers them,
they seek companions and no one accompanies
them, they seek an advocate and no one dares
1 > defend them. We weep and tremble with
tii cm, we hold their hands, we embrace them,
we shed tears over them, we wipe the sweat from
their brow and the tears from their eyes, we
give them a little water to cool their burning
tongue, we put our ear to their lips in order to
catch their feeble words. Then we say to them,
' How are you now ? Fear not, God is goodness
itself.' This is what we say to them in a voice

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52 THE AGONISING HEART.

choked with tears, and such scenes make our
hearts burn within us. We think no more of
impure love, of avarice, of the pleasures of the
table. But in sight of the great and fearful
mystery of death we tremble, we shake our
head, our countenance becomes downcast, we
think ourselves truly wretched, we weep over
our miserable condition, exclaiming, 'Woe!
woe! woe!'"* In the seventeenth century
Richard PAvocat thus described the fears of a
sinner in his last agony : — " What terrors seize
on those who are dying laden with unrepented
sins ! The sins of their life, the pains of death,
the danger of hell, are three causes of their sad
state. A time will come when the soul will
reproach itself for its unfaithfulness, when sins
for which it has had no real sorrow will over-
whelm it. Formerly they were like foul and
corrupt waters, stagnant in the heart, but a time
is coming when they will rise and break their
bounds and become torrents to trouble us
(Psalm xvii. 5), bringing back in a fearful
manner the memory of our past negligencies,
throwing us into a state of consternation,
perhaps even of despair. That time is the
time of the last agony. Oh, the terrible afflic-
tion, the dreadful anguish of the last moments
of a soul unfaithful to the graces of its vocation !
It is afflicted by the remembrance of sins, and

* St. Ephrem, Sermo in eos qui in Christo Obdor~
mierunt, torn. Hi., p. 263. Edit. Assemani.

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THE DEVOTION.

7>y the interior upbraidings of God. As death
approaches sin changes its appearance — it gives
death a sting which penetrates the inmost soul
of the sinner (i Cor. xv. 56). Without sin
death would have no terrors, with sin it is full
of terrors ; without sin a man would die content,
like just old Simeon, with sin he dies like
wretched Cain, who could not escape the wrath
of God ; without sin death is the sleep of the
predestinate, with sin it is the beginning of the
torments of the damned ; without sin the pains
of death are easy, with sin they are fearful and
desperate.

"Do not mistake apparent for true conver-
sion. The one is merely the effect of nature,
which cries, and complains, and sees the cause
of its sufferings, like the unhappy Antiochus
(2 Macab. ix. 13). The other is an effect of
grace, a work of the Most High, implying on
the sinner's part free-will and compunction of
heart But where is the free-will of a dying
man ? Where is his real compunction ? What
is to become of his poor soul? Where will
it go? 'The sorrows of death compassed
me, and the perils of hell have found me'
(Ps. cxiv. 3). He used to see that place of
torment afar off, but now he must see it near at
hand. He used only to think of it from time to
time, for there were many other things to
distract his mind, now he cannot forget it
* Hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her

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THE AGONISING HEART.

mouth without any bounds ' (Isa. v. 14). All
things now are changed, the axe is laid to the
root of the tree ; a terrible voice from Heaven
cries out that it is to be cut down (Dan. iv. 11),
that it has cumbered the ground too long. Death
comes nearer every moment ; the natural heat
forsakes the body, the limbs are bathed in cold
perspiration, branches are already cut off,
nothing is left save a few leaves on the barren
trunk. What is it fit for ? 4 Cast it into the
fire ! ' is the awful sentence of our Lord
(John xv. 6). I do not dwell on the violent
temptations and on the awful apparitions which
increase the horrors of the sinner's agony.
Fearful sights surround him and drive him to-
despair, and his own conscience becomes at
once his accuser and his tormentor ; on the one
hand are his past sins; on the other are the
devils, who are only waiting for his last breath
to seize upon him ; above him is an implacable
and justly indignant Judge ; beneath him are
the flames of hell, ready to swallow him up,,
and behind him is the world, urging him on to •
death, that death which will separate soul from
body, and give him up as a prey to his enemies
throughout an eternity of woe."*

Perhaps the description is incomplete. But
who can fully portray the physical and moral

* Richard l'Avocat, Supplement au Dictimnaire Moral,
dis. xx., sur les frayeurs des pkheurs d Vagonit^ ler
point.

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THE DEVOTION.

agony of death? We have no special revela-
tions on this subject, as we have with regard to
Purgatory. Who has returned from the gates
of death with perfect memory of his sufferings
there ? Who has even approached them without
losing consciousness and feeling? No doubt
this is the reason why so much less is said of
the dying than of our dear departed ones. But
we have been urged to pray for the dead and
for the dying ; and especially to commend the
dying to that Divine Saviour, Who knows by
His own experience what the death-agony is.
He felt the terrors of death for Himself; He
felt sadness for sin, and fear of hell for us. As
His Wounds heal our wounds, so His Agony is
the remedy for our last agony. How shall
this remedy be applied to our dying brethren ?
It must be by our prayers and by our suppli-
cations.

CHAPTER VIII.

LET US NOT FORSAKE THE DYING.

In former times every Christian prepared for death.
Works on this subject. But now the dying often will
not even see a Priest. Touching prayer of a dying
Religious, that the dying may not be forsaken. Let us
be their visible angels.

In any society where faith exists, final impeni-
tence is rare. Formerly, every Christian, as he
felt death approaching, sought to make his

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THE AGONISING HEART.

peace with God. There was little need to urge
his relations and friends to take measures for
his conversion, and to send for a Priest Many
pious works were written with a view of assisting
the Faithful in their preparation for a holy
death. More than sixty books of this kind
have been published, either written in French,
or else translated into that language. But in
these days of carelessness and irrehgion, dying
sinners do not think of being converted on
their death-bed, they often forbid any one to
mention the subject of religion, they will not
allow a Priest to come near them, and their
families very often have the same opinions
as themselves. They do all that can be
done for the body, but they have no care
for the soul, whose existence and nature is
a problem to them, while its eternal destiny
is a matter of little moment. We shall soon
want books to teach fervent and Apostolic
souls how to make their way to the dying, to
prepare their minds to believe in God and in
His Son Jesus Christ ; and, at all events, if they
dare not see a Priest or receive the sacraments,
may in their last hour hold the symbol of their
salvation to their dying lips. Our Saviour, by
means of the Devotion to His Agonising Heart,
seems to say to the Faithful of our days : " Do
not forsake the dying. Strive and pray, use all
your efforts to make sure of their conversion
and their final perseverance. Even if they have

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THE DEVOTION.

faith and piety they will be beset by tempta-
tions which you may lessen for them."

A Religious of the Society of Jesus made a
striking appeal to his friends, which will not be
out of place here. He had had an apoplectic
seizure, the danger had unexpectedly lessened,
but he was in a state of great languor and
weakness, and expected a return of the attack.
He spent his time in meditation on the account
given in the Gospels of the death of our Lord.
We quote the words which he addressed to his
friends, "I pray you by the mercies of Jesus
Christ, by your own eternal salvation, and that
of the souls intrusted to you, I pray all who are
led by charity or duty, to assist the dying, and
never to leave them in their extremity. Phy-
sicians of the body may despair of a sick
person's life, but the physician of the soul
should never despair of a sinner's salvation, for
that would be to despair of the infinite mercy of
God. Never weary of putting before the dying
sinner the immense riches of divine mercy, that
he may be led to hope and to love. If he can
no longer hear your voice, speak to his eyes,
show him the ground of our hope and love, the
crucified Saviour. If his sight has failed, make
him touch the crucifix, that only anchor of hope
and of love. Let no means be untried by your
ardent charity at this decisive moment, when
eternity is at stake. So will you be true followers
and worthy ministers of Jesus Christ, Who loved

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5»

THE AGONISING HEART.

His own unto the end. I dwell the more on
this subject, because I have often observed
with soitow that people talk in the very room
where a person is dying, about worldly affairs,
in a way which is hurtful to him if he is still
conscious, and which in any case is utterly
useless. Or else, after saying some prayers and
some pious words, they remain silent, as if they
had done everything; or again, they devote
their attention to the symptoms of approaching
death when there is not a moment to lose, as
any moment may decide his state for eternity.
I myself, a poor sinner, have been very near
that last hour of which I am speaking, and I
am likely soon to relapse into it, without any
hope of further recovery. I am dying daily ;
this indeed is the common lot of man, for our
life diminishes as it grows longer. But my
peculiar lot is to see and feel that I am really
dying daily, quotidie morior (i Cor. xv. 31) ; my
courage fails me, my senses are dimmed, my
mind wanders, my limbs totter, I am bowed
down, and I crave for support — Misercmini
amici met (Job xix. 21). Therefore, while
I am still able, I beseech my faithful friends,
that when the time comes that I shall be in the
greatest need, and yet unable to ask for help,
they will not fail me — Mtseremini met, saltern
Dos amid mei / I beseech them, I say, by the
love of Jesus Christ, by everything that can
touch true and loving and beloved hearts, that

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THE DEVOTION.

59-

they will not leave, me alone, but will constantly
suggest to me those sentiments of faith, hope,
and love in which I wish to live and die. Even
if I should have a very long and violent last
agony, like some whom I have witnessed, oh,
my friends ! in charity do not forsake me. What
are four-and-tvventy hours more of trouble and
care to you in comparison with a happy or a
miserable eternity to your dying friend ? It is
the last and greatest mark of affection that I
ask for, and I shall be grateful to you through
all eternity in that place of rest which I hope to
reach through the mercy of our Saviour. A true
friend never forsakes one, and especially in
affliction and at the hour of death."*

Let us then be faithful to our friends and
relations in their death agony. "Do not
abandon me," is their cry. " You have solaced
me in my lifetime with your love, and your
care, and your counsels; be with me at the
hour of my departure, assist me with good and
holy words, with prayers and supplications, and
make intercession for me to the Sovereign Judge
Who is to pronounce my eternal sentence."

The Guardian Angels of the dying speak for
them; they seem to say to us — "Though we do
not share the same nature, we have never for-
saken a human being committed to our care.
Day and night for twenty, for fifty years, our
solicitude has been unceasing. Shall such devo-

* Tubolet, Reflexions sur y. C. moiirant, ch. xviii.

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'6o THE AGONISING HEART.

tion become useless by your fault? Will you
refuse to cooperate with us for the salvation of
this soul ? Oh, no ; surely you will be, as far
as in you lies, guardians and visible angels of
the dying."

CHAPTER IX.

REASONS FOR HASTE.

Reasons of our prayers for the dying. Jesus asks it of us.
We pay homage to His Agony when we trust them to
His Agonising Heart. Time presses. Let our assist-
ance be in proportion to the necessity for it. Let us be
apostles. Let us pray by working and by suffering.
We shall be prayed for in our turn.

By prayer for the dying we give glory to Jesus
•Christ, we do great good to our neighbour, we
gain the most precious benefits for ourselves.
By prayer for the dying we offer the best and
sweetest consolation to the heart of Jesus, for
we save the souls for whom He suffered. By
prayer for the dying we fulfil a most Catholic
Apostolate, one which is, in the fullest sense of
the word, universal, for death spares no man —
one which is most necessary, since a good death
is its object, and most urgent, for all eternity
may depend on this moment More than
eighty thousand souls are to appear this day
before the tribunal of God. How many, alas !
will be overtaken in their sins? How many
others will be harassed by temptations of the

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THE DEVOTION.

devil, or by fear of their Judge ? Pray for them
to-day ; make haste ; to-morrow it will be too
late. You pray for the souls in Purgatory,
whose happiness is certain though it be de-
layed, and will you not pray for the poor dying,
whose salvation is uncertain — is even in great
danger ? You pray for the conversion of sinners,
though you know that, while life lasts, delay is
not irreparable, and will you neglect the dying,
who are already on the very threshold of eter-
nity. A day, an hour, a moment more, and it
will be Heaven or hell for ever !*

Listen to Jesus Himself, Who pleads the
cause of the dying. Hear Him say — " I have
tasted the bitterness of all agonies. All those in
their last agony are under My protection, their
loneliness makes them all the dearer to My
Heart. I know what it is to be forsaken. In
My Agony on the Cross I complained to My
Father that He had forsaken Me, although
Mary My Mother, and John My beloved Dis-
ciple, stood at My Feet In My Agony in the
Garden of Olives I felt the indifference and the
slumber of My Apostles. I said to you through
them — * Watch and pray;' watch and pray for
those who die each day, watch and pray for
those who are suffering and dying at this very
moment ! "

Happy thought, to place the dying under care

* Grande Confrerie du Cccur Agonisant a Jerusalem,
No. II.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

of the suffering Heart of Jesus. Who can sympa-
thise as He does with every agony ? Who is
better able to help ? What does He wait for ?
One prayer from us. He waits that the breath
of our supplications may bring from His Heart
a drop of that Blood which was poured forth in
the Garden of Gethsemane and on the mountain
of Calvary, as a refreshing dew for the sinners
who are dying to-day. O Lord, we honour Thy
Agony by placing in it all our confidence, by
owning that even where Thou seemest weakest
Thou art able to save the dying from the abyss,
and to open Heaven to them. Oh, Agonising
Heart of My God, I will henceforth pay Thee
this tribute of love ; I will daily intrust the
souls of the dying to Thee, that Thou mayest
save them ; I will bring them to Thee as to a
refuge, and T will unite my prayers to all those
who pray to Thee for their everlasting salvation.

Time presses ; they have but a year, a month,
a week, part of a day, to be converted and
forgiven. Before the end of the day which has
now begun, time for them will be no more \
their eternal doom will be decided — Heaven for
ever or hell for ever, the eternal joys of the
blessed or the eternal fires of the damned !
Alas ! the flames have even now almost reached
them. It is not my neighbour's house that is in
danger, but his body, his soul, his whole being.
Help ! help ! Bring the water of prayer, stretch
out the arm of charity, and he may still be

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THE DEVOTION.

saved from the devouring fire. Your small
efforts may cause his redemption, for they may
make the pains, the miracles, the teaching, the
Blood, the death of Jesus applicable to the
salvation of his soul.

Amongst the eighty thousand who die each day
how many are idolaters, sinners, forsaken, with-
out any help save yours ? Let your help, then,
be equal to their necessity, to their numbers, to
their loneliness ; measure it out by the depth of
hell, which must be closed beneath them, by
Heaven, which must be opened above them ;
measure it out by the temptations which assail
them, by the number of demons who lie in wait
for them ; measure it by the Agonising Heart of
your Saviour, Who has given you all without
measure. Did He reserve anything when He
gave Himself for us ? Oh, keep nothing back,
give all to Him in the person of the dying !

Do you not know that many generous souls
give all to the dead who are detained in the
flames of Purgatory? Do you not know what
others do to bring sinners back ; what our
Missionaries do every day for the conversion
of the heathen ? Yet those in Purgatory have
the certainty of endless bliss — their entrance
into it is only delayed. The sinners and heathen
still on earth, if they are converted to-day may
be lost to-morrow. But if you can rescue the
agonising from sin and from hell they are safe
for ever, their final perseverance is assured, for

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THE AGONISING HEART.

they are to die to-day. Without leaving your home
you become a missionary, a deliverer of souls.
The whole world is the field of your apostle-
ship ; death is everywhere, and everywhere your
prayer can help the dying. It goes further than
our ships or armies, further even than the
Ministers of the Gospel. They cannot be in
all places, they cannot be with all the dying.
But as the influence of the Heart of Jesus is.
omnipresent, the prayer you make to Him for
the dying may have universal influence.

Pray not only with your lips and your heart,
pray by your good works, by patience in your
sufferings. Offer to God your labours, your
trials, your afflictions, your daily life, for those
who die each day, and you have nothing to
envy the Missionary save his fatigues and his.
generous toils. You, like him, have whole
nations to evangelise ; you may be missionaries
for Japan, for Tonkin, for China, for the inhos-
pitable shores of Africa and Oceanica, for the
wandering tribes of America, yea, even for all
countries. The only limits to your zeal are the
limits of the world.

Give all, and you shall have it given back to-
you at the hour of your own death. Others will
pray for you, as you have prayed for others-
The Blessed Virgin will assist you as she
assisted her only Son. Jesus will make you
know the wondrous virtue of His Agony, and
all the dying whom you have delivered will.

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THE DEVOTION.

unite their voices before the Throne of God to
gain all His mercy for you. Say to Him in the
depths of your heart — " O my dear Saviour ! I
behold Thee in the poor, I receive Thee in the
stranger, I visit Thee in the sick, all that I do
for the least of Thy brethren I do for Thy sake.
I wish to see Thee, to love Thee, and to
succour Thee also in the dying. Thou suffering
Heart of Jesus, I wish to console Thee in all
suffering hearts ! O Heart of the Divine Spouse
of our souls ! Thou art the aim of my ambition ;
I aspire to Thee, all my efforts and prayers are
that I may possess Thee. Oh, then, give Thy-
self to me now, at the hour of my death and for
wer, in return for what I give the dying each
day!"

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II.— THE CONFRATERNITY.

CHAPTER I.

OLD ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE RELIEF OF THE
DYING.

Influence of the Association. The holy women on
Calvary. The service of the hospitals, and of the
ministers of the sick. Confraternity of the Holy Agony
of our Lord. Bona Mors under the protection of the
holy Angels. Confraternity of St Francis of Sales for
the agonising.

In the order of grace, as well as in the order of
nature, union is strength ; union gives us power
over the Heart of God as well as over the
hearts of men. Our Lord Himself has said,
" If two of you shall consent upon earth con-
cerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it
shall be done to them by My Father Who is in
Heaven. For where there are two or three
gathered together in My name, there am I in
the midst of them " (Matt, xviii. 19, 20). There-
fore, in all ages of the Church, Associations
have been among the principal means employed
for the salvation of the dying.

A pious author traces their origin to those
holy women who by their prayers contributed

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

to the salvation of the good thief, and assisted
the Saviour while He was dying on the Cross
(John xix. 25). " Here," he says " we have the
pattern of the pious Associations established in
the Church for the succour and consolation of
the Faithful in their agony. As Jesus bore our
sorrows, and was Himself their remedy, He was
pleased not only to suffer all that is most
terrible in the agony of death, but also to
instruct His followers how they were to help
each other in that last struggle. For this pur-
pose, He who was the strength of the Angels,
let them come down from Heaven to console
and strengthen Him. For this purpose, the
daughters of Jerusalem were led to meet
together, and bear Him company, showing
their compassion and gratitude on Mount Cal-
vary. Their charity led them to assemble in
the earthly Jerusalem from different parts of
Judea, and made them resolve to go with Jesus
at any cost to the place of His suffering, and
not to forsake Him in death. Christians, who
are led by the same spirit to take part in
Associations for the succour of the dying, never
forget that Jesus has approved of your holy
Assemblies in the persons of the daughters of
Jerusalem ; that He has by Himself sanctified
your care for sinners in their agony, and that
He is in a special manner present with those
who pray for the dying."*

* Tribolet, Reflexions sur J, C. tnourant, ch. viii.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

The desire for the salvation of the dying was
the origin of those charitable Associations by
which our hospitals have been brought to their
present state of perfection.

The first hospital was founded in Rome, m
the days of St. Jerome, by an illustrious penitent
named Fabiola, who herself undertook the most
servile offices for the sake of the sick.* But as
time went on, hospitals were left to the care of
hirelings, who did not imitate the devotion of
the Saint. These abodes of suffering were held
in such horror, that fear of their lives often
deterred even Priests of moderate learning from
carrying the consolations of religion to the sick
and dying. In times of pestilence and con-
tagious disease, no one could be found to fulfil
these offices save Priests who, as penance for
some crime, were condemned by their Bishops
to live in the hospitals. Cicatelli, a disciple of
St. Camillus of Lcllis, gives details too dreadful
to repeat. The hired Ministers, he tells us,
gave but scanty care to the bodies of the sick,
and what they did was done without kindness
or skill. The sufferers sometimes passed whole
days without the necessary remedies, sometimes
they were ill-treated, and made the sport of
the wretched mercenaries even in their last
moments. Their beds were made so seldom,
that they were full of vermin and filth. Before

* St. Jerome, Efisu lxxxiv. ad Oceanum, t. iv., p. 660.
Edit Bened.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

6 9

the dying had breathed their last, they were
either just left where they lay, and covered with
a sheet, or carried away, thrown amongst
corpses, or buried alive. Even at Rome, the
capital of charity, this happened several times
in the course of a few years. When these
miserable beings recovered their consciousness,
and realised their horrible position, they died
of terror, or went mad. One of them, however,
survived for several years ; he was known to
our author, who makes this reflection on the
dark picture he has presented to us : " If such
things were possible in Rome, the mirror of the
Christian world, the head-quarters of holiness
and charity, what must have been the state of
other towns which were without the presence
and care of the Sovereign Pontiff and so many
zealous ecclesiastics? These crying needs
decided St. Camillus to found the Religious
Order of Ministers of the Sick. He knew by
experience that many conversions might be
made among the sick and the dying in the
hospitals, and he said to his disciples, 1 My
Fathers and Brethren, what better Indies or
Japan need our Congregation desire in order to
convert souls to the Lord than these holy
hospitals. 1 "*

Many other Religious Orders for the relief of
the sick and dying have arisen since those days,

* Cicatelli, Vita del V. P. Camillo de Lellis, 1. ii.,
ch. L

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70 THE AGONISING HEART.

and their zeal for the soul has taught them to
bestow the tenderest care on the body. Even
among seculars many Confraternities have been
established, with a holy death as their object.
In 1648, Father Vincent Caraffa, General of
the Society of Jesus, conceived the idea of
founding at Rome the Association of the Holy
Agony of our Lord Jesus Christ dying on
Calvary, and of Our Lady of Dolours. This
Confraternity is commonly known by the name
of the Bona Mors, because all its members
seek that grace for themselves by honouring the
holy Agony of our dying Saviour, and the
sorrowful martyrdom which His Blessed Mother
suffered at the foot of the Cross. Pope Inno-
cent X. sanctioned the formation of the Confra-
ternity, the blessing of God evidently went with
it, and it has spread throughout the Christian
world.* On the 18th of April, 1809, Pius VII.,
in order to encourage the Faithful to pray for
the dying, granted an indulgence of three
hundred days to all who say three Paters and
three Aves for them, in memory of the Agony
of Jesus and the sorrows of Mary on Mount
Calvary, and a plenary indulgence to those
who say these prayers every day for a month. t
The most holy Virgin, assisting her Divine

* Exercice pour se preparer h la mort p. 3, 4. St Malo,
1787.

+ Manuel Le Chritien eclairS sur le nature ei Pusage
des Indulgences, 8e edit., p. II, art. L, n. 37.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

Son in His Agony, has been often invoked on
behalf of the dying. In the church of Saint
Pierre de Mortagne there was a Confraternity
of Our Lady of the Agonising. The Bishop
of Rochelle gave the necessary permission on
the 1 8th of January, 1658 ; on the 2nd of
February it was established, and on the 27 th
of the same month approved by Alexander VII.,
who granted indulgences to its members.*
Another Confraternity of the same name existed
in the parish church of Our Lady of the Assump-
tion, at Villefranche de Lauraguais, in the
diocese of Toulouse, and enjoyed similar privi-
leges, conferred on it by the Holy Father. It
was transferred in 1800 to the parish church of
St. Peter and the branch chapel of Nazareth.
The following prayer is used by the Associates :
" I honour thee, O holy Virgin at the foot of the
Cross, and I most humbly pray thee to be with
me in my agony and at my death, as thou wast
with thy beloved Son. I venerate thee, O
Mother of my God, because thou hast power to
dispense the Precious Blood of thy dear Son,
and I beseech thee by thy divine maternity to
apply Its merits to me at the hour of my
death, and to offer to the Eternal Father all
the sufferings of thy dear Son, His humili-
ations, and His adorable death, to satisfy His
divine justice, instead of that eternal death

* Pour la Confrerie de Notre Dame dcs Agonisants,
petit, in 32. Fontenay, 1658.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

and those sufferings which I have merited for
my sins." *

The holy Angels have also been invoked for
a good death, and Father Coret, a Jesuit, pub-
lished a book called The Association, or Good
Death wider the Patronage of the holy Guardian
Angels. He brings forward a great many
examples of the assistance given by these
heavenly spirits at the hour of death to those
who had thought of them devoutly through
their lives. "I have seen," he tells us, "on
their death-beds many who have loved their
good Angels, and I have always been struck by
their great joy. They have said — ' O God, how
glad I am that I have loved and invoked my
Guardian Angel;' 'I never thought I should die
so happy ; ' ' Blessed Angel, this is the moment
of my need, and you have not failed me.'
Prelates, even as they were about to die, have
exclaimed — * Who would have thought that
death, which seems dreadful afar off, could be
so easy when it comes near to us ! It is by
your aid, blessed Angel, friend of my soul!'
Do not believe in this especial Angelic aid
merely on my word, or even on that of St
Onuphrius, who relates how his Guardian Angel,
having led him to the desert, went away, saying :
* Serve God well during your life, and leave

* Exercice de Devotion pour les personnes Associ/es a la
Conjririe de Notre Dame des Agonisants y petit in 32,
p. 57. Toulouse, 1802.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

your death to me.' But take our Lord's own
words in the Gospel. He tells us how the
Angels attended the dying Lazarus, and carried
him to Abraham's bosom, giving us the hope
that they will perform the same good offices
for us."*

The Faithful have also sought the grace of a
good death by the intercession of different
Saints. A Confraternity of St. Francis of Sales
for the dying was established at the parish
church of St. Louis, in Paris, by authority of
the Archbishop, on the 19th of January, 1680.
Innocent XI. confirmed it, and enriched it with
indulgences on the 26th of March in the same
year.t There are many devotions and prayers
addressed to St. Joseph, to obtain the grace of
dying as he did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

* Coret, V Association, 4e edit., ch. i., n. 2. Rennes,
1742.

*t* Institution de la Confrerie de Saint Francois de Sales
pour les Agonisants, nouvelle edit. Paris, 1 713, in 12.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

CHAPTER II.

THE NEW ASSOCIATION SUITED TO THE PRESENT
TIME.

Fitness of devotion to the Agonising Heart, as regards its
object of veneration and its object of supplication.
Prayer is often our only way of promoting the salvation
of the dying. The association of the " Solidaires" and
its motto. Episcopal condemnation. Support from
Freemasonry. Opposition to this satanic society
becomes a necessity. Mission of the Associates of
the Agonising Heart An ingenious method adopted.

There is an admirable fitness in the great
works of the Spirit of God for the good of
mankind which cannot fail to strike us and to
rejoice our hearts. We see it in the object of
veneration and the object of supplication
brought before us by the Devotion to the
suffering Heart of Jesus.

This Divine Heart was pleased to manifest
Itself especially to the world in the midst of the
revolutions and troubles, which marked the
middle of the present century with tears and
blood. Long-established Powers were tottering
from their foundations; their downfal threatened
to involve the ruin of public and private for-
tunes ; the Sovereign Pontiff, the common
Father of the Faithful and the Vicar of Jesus
Christ, was in sorrowful and bitter exile, and
even when he returned to his capital his grievous
suffering was not at an end. Indifference,

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

rationalism, and impiety, were inventing new
means of frustrating the grace and merey of
God, of setting Him at naught in His word and
His laws, of wounding the Heart of His Son,
and of multiplying His sorrows and agonies. At
the sight of these miseries a sort of agony over-
whelmed the hearts of the most faithful and
devoted followers of the Saviour ; they suffered
with their good Master, they longed to satisfy
the justice of God. How eager they were to
honour the holy Agony of Jesus ! How happy
to gather round His Agonising Heart, as round,
a centre of warmth and of life which might still
restore vitality to the fainting body of society !
Devotion to the Agonising Heart of Jesus
comes before us as a remedy for sin, a support
for the wretched, a consolation for all. It raises
a banner of hope round which Christendom
may still rally.

But even more manifestly is it fitted to
succour and save the dying. Doubtless the
passage from time to eternity has ever been
beset with perils, and spiritual help for the
dying has never been out of season. But
formerly it was easier to give it. When people
were, during life, less unfaithful to their reli-
gious duties, they did not shrink from receiving
a Minister of God in their last hours. Now,
minds are but little enlightened by supernatural
faith, hearts are not warmed with love of Jesus
Christ, the laws of His Church are neglected by

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76 THE AGONISING HEART.

many men, and even women, who have no care
save for their material interests, who listen only
to bad doctrines, who frequent only infidel or
impious society, who live far from God, and who
do not attempt to obey His Gospel, or even to
think of eternity. When sinners like these are
laid on a bed of suffering, when death is knock-
ing at their very door, when their eternal doom
is about to be pronounced, those who might do
something for their salvation are kept at a
distance. Their own prejudices and the pre-
judices of their families bar the door against
any one distinguished by a. Religious dress or
known to profess a particular form of religion.
Or perhaps the Minister of reconciliation is sent
for merely that one who is dead, or has already
lost the use of his reason, may not be refused
Christian burial.

What is left for Christian charity to do?
Since so many of the dying cannot be reached
by its special representatives, it endeavours to
reach them by the breath of prayer. The souls
which are about to pass from earth to God's
tribunal are like the flocks of birds which some-
times light on the ground, awaiting a favourable
wind to pursue their way. The wings of the
soul are good desires. Who will give wings to
the sinner's soul? who will give him holy desires,
that he may rise from earth like the dove and
soar to the eternal tabernacles ? The charity of
fervent souls who are praying and suffering and

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

working for the dying will avail to do this. That
charity will gain conversion for the sinner, will
persuade him to receive the sacraments of the
Church, or to make an act of perfect contrition
before he leaves this world. This result will be
obtained more rarely for those who are strangers
to the faith, for Jews, Mussulmen, and idolaters.
But who, that believes the teaching of the Holy
Scriptures as to the efficacy of prayer, can doubt
that the daily supplications of souls devoted to
the suffering Heart of our Saviour are answered
by innumerable graces of conversion and salva-
tion, of perseverance and perfection, bestowed
on the Faithful who are dying every day ? In
the eighteenth century, while the friends of the
Heart of Jesus were saddened by many fearful
deaths, books of preparation, suited for the use
of every one, abounded. Blessed be God, Who
in these our days, when most men think little of
preparing themselves for death, has raised up a
fervent Association to pray for those who will
not pray for themselves, to strive to save those
who are bent on their own destruction, and to
awaken faith and charity in hearts that have
long been careless and forgetful !

The very character of our Association gives a
special fitness to this effort now that societies
have made it their object to prevent all prepa-
ration for death. The spirit of " association " is
rife in our days ; men bind themselves together
to die in impenitence and impiety. Belgium

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THE AGONISING HEART.

offers a sad example. Some people in that
country have formed themselves into a body,
which undertakes to refuse any minister of reli-
gion access to its dying members, and to have
its dead buried with uproar and impiety. Their
motto is — "No Priest at births, or marriages,
or deaths."'""

At the beginning of the year 1863, Mgr.
Malou, Bishop of Bruges, condemned these
associations in the following terms : —

" Freemasonry, by the mouth of its grave
authorities and its young adepts, has hurled a
defiance and an anathema at the religion of
Christ, and that from the open grave of its
brethren who have died enemies of Jesus Christ
This society gives us to understand that those
who enrol themselves in its ranks are bound to
it for life and death ; it watches their death-beds
to hold them to their apostacy, and to keep out
the Priest and the Cross, penitence and hope.
Be it known, therefore, that the anathemas of
the Church have not lost their power ; and that
these fearful impenitent deaths, which make
every Catholic heart tremble, justify their severity.
This last sect, the Freemasonry of ' Solidaires,'
or 'freed men,' &c, has been lately established
in the capital and in most of the great towns.
It is chiefly composed of men and women of
the lower orders, who in return for the honour
of belonging to a sect of free-thinkers, and for
* Le Monde, numero du Lundi, 25 Juillet, 1864.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

the advantage of assistance during illness and a
gratuitous civil funeral, engage themselves to
abandon the Church through life, and to refuse
the sacraments at their death; to imitate the
conduct and the end of their chiefs and in-
structors — that is to say, to live atheists and die
reprobates. What an odious part do these false
apostles of reason, liberty, and human dignity
assume, who, taking advantage of the frailty of
the heart and the weakness of the understand-
ing, pervert men's souls, rob them of their faith,
and give them in its stead not a new belief, not
assertions, not even doubts — but blasphemies
who work upon misery and vice to gain disciples
to apostacy, who tyrannise over the conquered
by interest and human respect, who pursue their
victim to his very death-bed, who keep watch
over his agony that they may check the prayer
that would rise from his lips and stifle the first
movements of repentance in his heart ! Oh, if
it be * a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God 1 Whom we have despised, what
is the crime of those who fling the slaves of
their fanaticism at the very feet of the Sovereign
Judge?"*

About the middle of the year 1865, the
society of Freemasons expressed its sympathy
with the dreadful sect of the " Solidaires," to
which it had already given many members. In
England, France, and Italy, Freemasons rejoiced
* Lc Monde, Vendredi, 6 Mars, 1863.

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So THE AGONISING HEART.

in the formation of associations where men
pledged themselves to die without God, like
brute beasts. The London Freemasons wrote —
"We have learnt with pleasure that the free-
thinkers of Belgium have succeeded in organis-
ing companies for civil funerals. We sincerely
congratulate our Belgian brethren on this happy-
idea, and especially the Freemasons who have
been so ready to take the initiative in this
rationalistic movement. A great example has
been given to the world, and we doubt not that
it will bear fruit. Much has been done already,
by taking so large a proportion of the dead from
the Church ; but the work is only beginning —
to complete it, we must also rescue the living
from the power of the Priests."*

Encouraged by such support, the "Solidaires"
are spreading throughout Europe. In Paris they
sometimes form a barrier round a death-bed, lest
the Priest should come and the soul be saved.

Ought not this satanic union to be met by an
angelic association? Ought not the friends of
God to be as full of energy as the instruments
of Satan ? Will they give up the field to this
infernal zeal? Since union is strength, must
they not bind themselves together to stem this
torrent of pride and impiety? Does not this
new evil call for a special and vigorous remedy?
If we only do what we have done already, if we
content ourselves with obtaining a good death
* Le Monde, Samedi, 16 Seplembre, 1865.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

for ourselves and other members of pious Con-
fraternities, would not our consciences reproach
us with indolence and cowardice in face of our
foes ? They spare no efforts, they shrink from
no sacrifices, to ruin the souls of the dying.
And shall we, the disciples or ministers of Jesus
Christ, be lukewarm and indifferent in His cause?
Shall we draw back at some little difficulty,
shall we prove unequal to acts of self-abnegation
and of generosity, when it may be in our power
to rescue souls that are on the very brink of
hell? Oh, surely the very name of Agony
would be our condemnation, for agony means
struggle and combat. What struggles, what
combats has the Heart of Jesus encountered for
our salvation ! Ought not our grateful hearts to
enter upon them readily, to suffer to the utmost
in order to help forward the salvation of our
dying brethren ?

What a mission lies before the Association of
the Agonising Heart of Jesus for those who die
■each day ! If we can gain access to their bed
of suffering, we speak to them of Christ and
bring them back to God ! At least, we fall on
our knees many times a day to pray that God
will shower down blessings and graces on the
dying. There are rocky deserts and burning
sands, watered by no stream, and which the
skill of man cannot irrigate, but God sends
clouds laden with rain to refresh them, that
they may not be altogether barren ; so hardened

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THE AGONISING HEAiy*.

souls, withered and scorched by vice, are
reached by our prayers, which, like a cloud,
rise above all barriers and overcome all obstacles-
to bear to them the grace of penitence and con-
version.

A fervent layman who was in the habit of
visiting the Hotel Dieu at Lyons, used to make
out each month a list of those who were most
dangerously ill, indicating them merely by their
number, and adding a few words as to their
moral state and to commend them to the
prayers of devout Christians. God blessed the
effort, and those who had prayed soon rejoiced
over conversions obtained by their supplications.
What an encouragement for all members of the
Confraternity of the Agonising Heart of Jesus I
What a certain and easy mode of doing battle
with the legions of hell ! O Sacred and loving
Heart ! bless Thy friends and servants more and
more abundantly, that they may lead those souls
into the way of truth whom Thine enemies are
seeking to draw downwards to perdition !

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THE CONFRATERNITY

CHAPTER III.

PROGRESS OF THE WORK.

Short prayer to the Agonising Heart distributed every-
where, like a blessed seed. Benevolent assistance of
pious persons. Association established at Bourges, at
Mans, at jNiort, and Limoges. Interior progress of
the work, or greater perfection of means. How the
Association may be established.

We may sometimes have seen a flower which
has been transplanted by the hand of man to a
distance from its native soil, blooming alone,
but after it has come to perfection, the wind
bears its seeds away, and by-and-bye they
spring up and adorn the hills and valleys
around. The Devotion to the Agonising Heart
of Jesus, after lying hid for a long time in the
breast of a humble Religious, blossomed forth
in a short and touching prayer. " But," says
the Messenger of the Sacred Heart, " how is this
little germ to increase and bear fruit? What
mysterious gale is to bear it to the east and to
the west, and in a few years make it spread to
the most distant lands? It is the word of
Christ's Vicar, enriching it with precious indul-
gences. With the blessing of the Holy Father,
it has gone forth in all directions, and transla-
tions in different languages have made it familiar
in most Catholic countries."*

* Le Messager du SacrS Cccur. Novembre, 1861, art. i.,
n. iii., p. 186.

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8 4

THE AGONISING HEART.

Devotion to the Agonising Heart has been
very widely propagated by means of little books
translated into several of the European lan-
guages, and even into Hindostanee. It appeared
most opportunely on the eve of those sad
events which were to imperil so many souls ; it
took root in countries which were about to
become the theatre of bloody warfare, and
where the number of the dying was to be
multiplied by the sword. It reached Upper
Italy, Sicily, Naples, North America, and even
Poland. May we not hope that the Agonising
Heart of our good Master, touched by so many
prayers, wrought wonderful works of mercy on
the great fields of death ?

The cooperation of pious persons was not
wanting. We have already mentioned several
names, and will now add others. Father de
Busse, of revered memory, distributed many
tickets for our Devotion during his Missions ;
Mgr. Foulquier permitted the insertion of the
prayer, " O most merciful Jesus " in the book of
prayers which he caused to be printed for the use
of his diocese. In the diocese of Mende, the
children in the different educational institutions
are taught to repeat it, and it is said on Sundays
in many churches at the Mass in which the
sermon is preached. The Rev. Father Studer,
Provincial of Toulouse, showed a paternal
affection for this work, and especially for the
Community. The Rev. Father Beckx, the

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

General of the Society of Jesus, inherited the
benevolence of his predecessor. Father Pellico,
brother of the celebrated author, took a par-
ticular interest in this Devotion. Father de
Villefort, the friend of the French in Rome,
employed one of the best artists of that capital
to paint a picture of the Agonising Heart of
Jesus, which may be copied for the Confrater-
nities. Laymen have also shown great zeal in
propagating this Devotion, and a worthy Chris-
tian mayor of a commune near Paris has made
himself an apostle of the Agonising Heart
The progress of the Association has kept pace
with the progress of the Devotion. Holy Priests
have advocated it warmly, and the Faithful
have responded eagerly. Confraternities have
been erected, with the approbation of the
Bishops, in many towns of France, and con-
siderable good has been done by them to their
Associates, as well as to the dying. The Associ-
ation established at Bourges, in the church of
the Jesuit Fathers, numbered, in 1861, six
thousand members, many of whom take it in
turns to go to Holy Communion, and make
half an hour's intercession daily for the dying.
Many offer an annual alms to have Masses said
for them. At Mans, the Confraternity was
erected by Mgr. Nanquette, and approved on
the 20th of September, 1859, by the Sovereign
Pontiff, who granted indulgences in its favour.
Each member contributes to the frequent cele-
1

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THE AGONISING HEART.

bration of the Holy Sacrifice for the dying by
an annual gift of a franc* At Niort, the
Association, established in connection with the
Church of St. Andrew in 1863, has eight or
nine hundred members. The Nuns of St.
Alexis, at Limoges, who serve the hospital ot
the town, established the Association there, and
their new church was consecrated by Mgr.
Fruchaud, under the patronage of the Agonising
Heart of Jesus. We shall speak at length, and
in a separate chapter, of the Archconfraternity
at Jerusalem.

Any work really inspired by the Spirit of
God is sure to grow, not only externally, but,
above all, internally, and the growth will be
both in height and in depth. It is like a germ
which as it expands not only becomes larger,
but is more perfect in every part. This double
progress of grace is seen in the work of the
Agonising Heart; it has gained at once in
extension and in organisation. Its fundamental
practice is perpetual intercession made by the
Associates in turn. It is made, if possible, from
half-past two to three o'clock, in honour of our
Saviour's dying Agony on the Cross. Each
Associate takes one day in the month, and the
short prayer we have already quoted is said
daily by all. If one day in the month can be
chosen, a Friday for example, for intercession

* Boulange, Manuel de la Confrerie du Ca'ur Agoni-
sauf, p. 28 — 31. Le Mars, i860, in 32.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

in common, the work is regularly established.
This is the centre of all the other exercises. It
is desirable to have a chapel, or at least some
special place where the intercession may be
made, and to have there a little picture of the
Agonising Heart; for devotion is aided by
some object which appeals to the senses. An
intelligent and pious directress should take
charge of the whole, assigning to each person
a day for intercession, and taking care to see
that it is faithfully performed.

Other practices may be added : giving alms
for Masses for the dying, Communion made by
each Associate on a certain day in the month,
visits to the dying and the sick, especially to
those who are dangerously ill. The statutes
which have been published by the Founder*
provide for all these things; and in many places
the whole system is working with the best
results.

All these things may be done as matters of
private devotion, without any sanction of eccle-
siastical authority; but it is to be wished that
Confraternities should be duly established, meet-
ing every month for an instruction and Bene-
diction, and for this establishment episcopal
approbation is necessary. When constituted,
they can be affiliated to the A rchcon fraternity

* R. P. Lyonnard, Le Cccur Agonisant de Jistis et les
A^onisants de chaqtie jour, p. 57, et suiv. Paris, 1864, in
32.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

at Jerusalem, and share in its indulgences.
Pious people often wish to set the thing going
in their parish, but do not know how to begin.
If thirty people, men or women, can be found
to undertake the half hour's intercession each
once a month, the Association may be pro-
visionally established. If it perseveres, the
authorisation of the Bishop will give it a
canonical form, and other practices can be
added at discretion.

When an individual wishes to belong to the
Association, it is only necessary that the name
be sent to the Superior of the Nuns of the
Agonising Heart*

CHAPTER IV.

VISITING THE SICK.

Recommended by the Founder. The first Confraternity
of Charity and the society of ladies established by St.
Vincent of Paul for the purpose of visiting the sick.
Much good is still done in Paris by this society. The
Association of the Agonising Heart promotes the same
work. Statutes relative to visiting the sick. How
God leads founders and developes their undertakings.

The interior progress of the work of the
Agonising Heart is one which has regard to
persons and to acts. As to persons, some
generous souls have been led to devote them-

* A Lyon, Quartier de Monplaisir, aux Quatre-
Maisons, u.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

8 9

selves by vows as a complete sacrifice to God,
in order to obtain salvation for the dying. The
third section of this book gives a detailed
account of this Religious Community. The
practice of visiting the sick and dying, with a
view of preparing the way for their conversion,
has been added to the daily prayer and constant
attendance at Mass. The pious Founder of the
Confraternity says: — "For the better attain-
ment of the object in view, members will, as far
as possible, add performance to prayer. They
will gladly visit and console the sick, they will
exhort them to offer up their sufferings to God,
and, above all, to receive the last sacraments.
These offices of charity should be performed for
the dying of all classes, but most especially for
hardened sinners, for the poor and desolate,
and for any who may be exposed, by the negli-
gence of those around them, to the danger of
dying without receiving the sacraments."*

The first charitable Confraternity for visiting
the sick poor was founded at Chatillon in 1617,
by St Vincent de Pault In 1629 he estab-
lished another in Paris, where its success was
marvellous. % In 1634 he founded a society of
ladies, to visit the sick in the hospitals of the
capital. His biographer, Abelly, says : — " God
only knows all the good that has thus been

* Le Cceur Agonisant Statnis, art. v. '

+ Abelly, Vie de St. Vincent de Pant, 1. i., ch. xiii.

X Ibid.y ch. xxix.

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■0)0 THE AGONISING HEART.

-done with the help of His grace; He only
knows how many have been led to die a happy
death or to begin a holy life. If, however, we
may judge by the number of religious conver-
sions which have taken place, we may fairly
infer that many have been rescued from a life of
immorality. For even in the first year, God so
abundantly blessed this work that more than
seven hundred and sixty persons submitted to
the Church. Among them were Lutherans,
Calvinists, and Turks. Many of them had
been wounded and taken prisoners at sea, and
sent to the Hotel Dieu. Vincent spoke one
day to the ladies, of the gratitude they ought to
show to God, Who had been pleased to choose
them and make use of them to bring about so
much good. 4 Ladies,' said he, 4 you ought to
thank God very much for having led you to
take such care of the bodily wants of the poor,
for while tending their bodies His grace has
made you also think of the salvation of their
souls, and this at the most fitting time, for the
greater number of them have no other season-
able moment to prepare themselves properly for
ftheir last hour. And even those who have
recovered might never have thought of changing
their present lives, had it not been for the good
influences which have been brought to bear
upon them.'"* The Saints have a power of
giving life and permanence to the works the/
* Abelly, Vic dc St. Vincent de Paul, 1. ii., ch. iv.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

originate ; the Church weathers all storms, and
institutions which are really useful to her share
her stability. The society of ladies founded by
St. Vincent de Paul still exists in Paris ; it com-
prises visitors, assistants, and collectors. The
account of its operations in a single year, taken
at random from its statistics, may give an idea
of what has been done in two centuries. In
1863, twelve hospitals, containing 2,560 beds
in the women's wards, were regularly visited ;
273 convalescent girls were placed in the
Asylum of the Sacred Heart of Mary; 420
convalescent children were received in the
Asylum of the Infant Jesus, where 120 first
Communions were received; 1,490 poor sick
families were visited and assisted ; 67 couples
were married ; 60 children were apprenticed,
and 131 taken under protection. A great many
conversions took place, especially among the
dying.

Such is the admirable work in which the
Associates of the Agonising Heart of Jesus
cooperate, at once enlarging its sphere and
.giving a fresh impulse to its efforts. It will
now no longer be confined to a society of ladies
in Paris ; but in the country as well as in towns,
in other lands as well as in France, Associations
of men as well as of women will be formed and
organised, for the purpose of visiting the sick
and showing the way of salvation to the dying.
A great warfare will be waged against the spirit

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9 2

THE AGONISING HEART.

of evil, certain victory will be gained over the-
" Solidaires," and a multitude of souls will un-
doubtedly be won over to Christ. We proceed,
to give some extracts from the statutes, which
were approved by the Bishop of Mende, Nov. 6,
1863.

"The visitors are chosen from amongst the
Associates, who voluntarily present themselves*
to undertake the office. The important duties
which it entails ought only to be intrusted to«
persons of known prudence and charity, with,
some experience, and, if possible, a position,
and character which may ensure their influence -
with the sick. Their chief work is to go to the.
sick, especially to those who are in danger, to
encourage them, to urge them to receive the
last sacraments, and to help them in preparing
for a happy death. The visitors should inform,
the Priest when the case seems serious, particu-
larly if the friends of the sick person are not
likely to do so. All the sick, without distinction
of rank, are recommended to the care of the-
visitors, but the preference should be given to-
hardened sinners, to the poor and lonely, and to »
members of the Association. Visitors will inform ;
the president or vice-president when the sick
are in need, and on presenting a signed authori-
sation to the treasurer they will receive adequate
help, the authorisation being retained by the
treasurer. They will tell the director, or one of
the so-called 'zelateurs,' of those who are in.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

•danger of death, that the prayers of the Asso-
ciation may be asked for them, above all for
.those whose spiritual necessities are greatest
The director will assign to each visitor a certain
locality, whose sick are to be regularly visited.
If he should be unable to gain admission he will
let the president or director know. Visitors
should often consider the importance of their
work, and the blessings which they may gain for
the dying by its faithful performance. And if
they sometimes meet with difficulties, let them
take courage from the hope of the great rewards
which the most generous Heart of Jesus has in
store for them at the moment of death and
throughout all eternity."*

But this apostolical office, inspired by the
•suffering Heart of our Divine Master, does not
stop here. The Confraternity of Charity, estab-
lished in some villages in 1617, led, in 1633,
to the permanent institution of the Sisters of
Charity, whose indefatigable devotedness is
known all over the world. The good Bishop
of Rodez observes with regard to this Institu-
tion : "If it be true, according to the words of
the Prophet, that * Deep calleth unto deep,' it
is even more true that one blessing produces
another blessing, and that charity, which is the
most fruitful of virtues, when it has completed
•one work begins a second. The Sisters of
•Charity followed the Confraternity of Charity,
* Lc Cccur Agonisant Statuts, p. 81 — 84.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

and after God had made Vincent the Founder of
a Congregation of men for the evangelisation of
the poor, He made him also the Father of a
Community of women devoted to the same
poor, and especially to those who were sick
among them. This work is evidently due to
the guidance of Divine Providence, for Vincent
did not undertake it entirely of his own accord,
but was almost compelled to do so."* God
Himself inspires all founders; He gives them,
when they look not for it, the first inspiration
for their work, He follows it by further inspira-
tion till His design is completed. No one can
say what this work of the Agonising Heart of
Jesus may, under the gradual and constant
influence of His holy inspirations, hereafter
become. Its Founders idea is a unity of prayer
and action, and we cannot be wrong in looking
forward to a glorious development.

* Abelly, Vie de St. Vincent de Paul, 1. ii., ch. ii.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

CHAPTER V.

PRAYER AND ACTION.

Variety in unity. Contemplative and active Nuns. Apos-
tolic Society of the Sacred Heart. Prayer is the soul
of the Society. And action combined with prayer and
suffering is its ordinary means.

Let us unite in prayer and action. The work
of the Agonising Heart is to cooperate with the
general movement directed by the Spirit of
God. The works of God are marked by variety
in unity, and the Devotion to the Agonising
Heart of Jesus bears the same stamp. The
object of our veneration is one, the graces we
expect to gain from It are many. We look for
consolation of all who are in sorrow, whatever
may be the length of life before them, we look
more especially for salvation for all the dying ;
they are generally the most afflicted of man-
kind, because of their sufferings, or because of
their unwillingness to leave this world, or
because of their apprehension of troubles to
come upon their families. To attain our main
object, the salvation of the dying, the means
which we employ are various. By our prayers,
by our homage to the Saviour's Agony, by the
consolations we offer Him, by our faithfulness in
sharing His sorrows, we seek to ascend to His
very Heart; and we return thence with our
hands full of graces, our hearts full of com-

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THE AGONISING HEART.

passion, to sweeten the last moments of the
dying, to save their souls, and bind them to
God for all eternity.

All the Associates take part in this double
movement of ascending and descending, but we
see its fullest efficacy in those who are entirely
consecrated to God, under the protection of the
Agonising Heart. Cloistered Nuns ascend the
heights of contemplation, that they may follow
the Divine Lamb in His Agony in the Garden
of Olives, and draw fresh graces for the dying
from His Heart. Nuns not bound by the vow
of the cloister will descend to the very depths
of society, where misery and indigence are
often accompanied by forgetfulness of God and
spiritual death.

Zealous Priests enrol themselves under the
banner of the Divine Heart; in the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass they ascend to the altar,
they draw near to the Saviour ; in the exercise
of their ministry they descend into the con-
sciences of men, bearing the light of faith and
the refining fire of penitence. On the ist of
August, 1 86 1, Mgr. Foulquier approved of a
holy union of Priests called the Apostolic
Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. These
Priests engage to say a Mass every year, "in
order to ask from God, by the sufferings of the
Agonising Heart of Jesus, and by the sorrows
of the compassionate Heart of Mary — first,
Apostolic success in the exercise of their holy-

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

ministry — that is, the salvation and perfection
of the souls intrusted to their care; secondly,
efficacious graces of conversion for those in.
their parishes and dioceses who do not practise
their religion ; thirdly, that Apostolic Priests
may be raised up, powerful in deeds and in
words, burning with zeal for the glory of God
and the salvation of souls."*

As the fowler spreads his snares, so the
loving Heart of Jesus spreads the net of His
charity to take souls captive and bring them to
the bliss of Paradise. Thus, those who are
devoted to the mystery of Gethsemane, and the
Agony of the God-Man, join together, that they
may be united more closely to His Agonising
Heart, and may bring dying sinners back to
Him. Prayer and work, the contemplative and
the active life, agree in the same object, and
assist each other in the salvation of the dying.
Must not the progress of Devotion to the
Agonising Heart produce in the souls of the
Faithful that patience, that vigilance and prayer,
which the Divine Master asked for His chosen
Disciples upon the Mount of Olives? — Sustinete,
vigilate, orate (Matt xxvi. 38, 41).

Prayer is the soul, action the body; their
union is generally necessary for the propagation
of life in the order of grace, just as the union
of soul and body is in the order of nature. As^

* Voir siir cette SocikS une feuille imprimie in 8vo,.
imprimee k Mende in 1861.

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98 THE AGONISING HEART.

the soul can live separate from the body, so a
life of entire contemplation is possible to Chris-
tians, and the Church has always approved
those spiritual families whose whole occupation
is the praise of God, prayer for the living and
the dead, and personal sanctifi cation. But as
the body cannot live without the soul, a merely
active Religious Order would be like a corpse,
and the Church would not approve an Institu-
tion whose whole aim was external action apart
from prayer and exercises of piety. Priests and
laymen who live in the world are bound to
spend some time in prayer in their own houses
and at the foot of the altar. Does not our
Lord bid all Christians —those who are walking
in obedience to His commandments, as well as
those who follow Him in the narrower path of
His more intimate precepts — " Always to pray,
and not to faint" (Luke xviii. 1). The more
.zealous a Christian is for the salvation of souls,
the more time will he give to prayer, to retire-
ment, and to contemplation. Who was so
zealous and ardent in action as the Apostle of
the Indies and of the far East, St. Francis
Xavier? Yet he was ever ready for prayer
and meditation, even shortening his sleep to
prolong his hours of intercourse with God.
If poverty or illness hinders your active
•cooperation in good works, pray often, pray
while you suffer, and your prayers and your
patience may save the souls of the dying,

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

and bring success to the labours of other
Associates.

But if you are able to work, do not content
yourself with prayer and suffering, add action to
prayer. Protestantism, which admits no visible
Church, may logically conclude that prayer is
our only means of promoting the salvation of
our neighbours, and says that our belief alone
saves us ; but the Catholic religion teaches us
that there is a visible Church, that invisible
things come to us by means of those which are
visible, that the Priesthood, the Word of God,
and the Sacraments, are the ordinary channels
of inward grace, the instruments which God is
pleased to use for the sanctification of our souls.
If St. Teresa, a Carmelite Nun, made many
conversions, it was not because she was in a
cloister, but because in her cloister she found
the means of close union with God, and conse-
quent holiness ; besides, it is to be observed
that the conversions she obtained were generally
aided by those means belonging to an active
life. Jesus Christ did not say to men, " Take
the Bible and believe what you will," nor did
He say to His Apostles, " Stay where you are,
and do nothing but pray ; " He sent them into
all the world, Euntes ergo docete (Matt, xxviii. ig)s
to carry the good tidings to all nations, and
make them fruitful by their labours and their
lives. As time went on, and fresh needs arose,
God raised up active men like St. Dominic,

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IOO

THE AGONISING HEART.

Gusman, and St Ignatius Loyola, to combat
heresy, and to quicken the faith of Christians.
Let those then who have no vocation for a
contemplative life, who cannot pray a great
deal, but have much natural activity, set to
work bravely, using their energy in the service
of grace, doing all that is in their power for the
•conversion of souls. Energy and united action,
energy directed by faith, union sanctified by
prayer, such is the plan of charity which the
Holy Spirit now sets before us in order to
check those who are drawing on the edge of the
abyss, and to revive religion amongst us. By
His holy inspiration, apostolic Congregations,
and Congregations for instruction, have been
founded, old active Orders have been revived,
and new ones established. Future generations
will owe them much. But they never forget
that action without prayer cannot bear fruit,
though prayer without action may. They pray
long and ardently, as our Lord prayed in His
Agony, God gives them the assistance of those
contemplative Communities whom He has
restored to us, that the triumph of the militant
Orders may be hastened. St Teresa says : " If
we can by our prayers contribute to this victory,
we in our solitude shall have done something
for the cause of God. No prayers can be better
or more profitable than these."* Alas! in the
present day people have not faith enough to
* St. Therese, Le chemin de la perfection, ch. iii.

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THE CONFRATERNITY. IOI

understand the perfection and importance of
the contemplative Orders. We must not, how-
ever, suppose that this tone of mind has any
influence in determining the nature of the voca-
tion which leads many generous souls to give
up all, and sacrifice themselves for the instruc-
tion of children or the care of the sick. Vocation
is not human, but divine. If a mixed life of
action, joined to prayer, attracts more souls in
the present day than a life of complete contem-
plation, the reason is to be found in the will of
God, and in our wretched condition. To
attribute it to caprice, to nature, prejudice, or
fashion, would be a blasphemy against Provi-
dence, which calls together many workmen to
raise the temple from its ruins, inspires them
with courage to labour with one hand while
they fight with the other, and teaches them how
to mould the living souls for that spiritual
edifice.

The Institution of the Agonising Heart will
only attain to perfection in entering into these
designs of Providence and cooperating in this
general movement. May not the active members
take courage from the thought, that while they
are visiting the sick, and fighting manfully
against Satan for the souls of the dying, a
Community is there, like Moses on the hill,
lifting up its hands to draw down blessings
from Heaven on their warfare. O Sacred
Heart of Jesus, arm them for the contest,

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102 THE AGONISING HEART.

fill their hearts with dauntless perseverance,
let prayer be ever on their lips, and strength
in their arms, deliver them from that careless-
ness and apathy which grieve the Holy Spirit,
let them not be overcome by sloth during the
agony of Thy members, as Thy Disciples were
overcome by sleep in Thine own Agony !

CHAPTER VI.

THE WORK IN COMMUNITIES.

This work flourishes best in Communities, because their
members are most like Jesus in His Agony. The
resemblance strengthened by devotion to His Agonis-
ing Heart. Zeal of active Communities for our object ;
and of contemplative Communities.

Just as a plant has a special soil and climate
in which its blossoms and its fruits attain the
greatest perfection, so each Devotion has a
chosen home, where God makes it prosper more
particularly. Devotion to the Agonising Heart
of Jesus attains a greater development in the
cloister, especially in the souls of its most
fervent inmates ; and its fruits are gathered by
the dying.

Why is that its chosen home? Because
interior sufferings, martyrdom of the heart,
spiritual agonies, are to be found among the
members of Religious Communities more than
among the laity. Is it not meet that those

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

who aim at perfection should be made like the
Divine Model of perfection, and consequently
that they should follow Him in the Agonies
which He suffered from His Incarnation to His
Death ? Those who have no domestic ties
escape many of the external trials to which
Christians living in their families are exposed.
A Christian in the world is exposed to suffering
on all sides. It may come through his children,
or the companion of his life ; through his honour,
his interests, or his care for the future of those
dear to him. A Religious has forsaken all things,
suffering has less hold on him, the very regularity
of his life preserves him from many maladies.
Nevertheless, a vow is on him to bear the Cross
daily ; he pursues it. When he entered on the
path of the evangelical counsels, he made choice
of the Cross that he might gain Jesus. Can he
then fail to find it ? It will come to him surely,
not, it may be, from without, but it will penetrate
within and take possession of his heart Jesus
will indeed give Himself to him, but at the same
time He will give him a share in His Agony.
A Religious in his cell has this resemblance to
our Lord in the Grotto on the Mount of Olives,
that he suffers a secret martyrdom, and while he
suffers he prays to God, and he loves all man-
kind. Must not his heart be brought into
contact with the Agonising Heart of Jesus, that
its resemblance to that Divine Model may be
perfected ?

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IC4 THE AGONISING HEART.

Devotion to the Agonising Heart does this.
As it takes root in the heart of the disciple, it
produces in it conformity to the Heart of the
Master, it makes him ready to encounter interior
struggles, and helps him to sanctify himself by
those trials which prove the ruin of so many
souls. We believe it to have a special provi-
dential mission amongst Religious Orders in
this age of egotism. It tends to preserve in
them a spirit of self-renunciation and sacrifice,
by bringing them continually back to the very
source of abnegation — the Heart of Jesus. This y
no doubt, is the reason of the zeal with which
the children of St. Ignatius, and the double
family of St. Vincent de Paul, have adopted
and propagated this Devotion and that of the
Holy Agony, which honours the same mystery.
We give a few facts regarding the first Of all
active Congregations the first to embrace it with
great ardour was that of Sainte-Chre'tienne,
which has several Houses in the north of
France. Sister Sainte-Amable, whom God has
since taken to Himself, had a burning zeal for
the honour of the Divine Heart She did much
to spread this Devotion in the north, particularly
amongst her Sisters in Religion. Another Nun r
named Saint-Re'gis, of the House of Se'dan, gave
the invocation and veneration of the Agonising
Heart a definite form among work-women and
others. Much good was thus done amongst the
Religious themselves, their pupils, and people

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

in the world; in fact, amongst all who were
brought into relation with this House. The
same happy fruits have been gathered by other
active Communities; for example, among the
pupils in the Convent of our Lady, at Saint
Lednard, Haute Vienne; in the Hospital of
Saint Alexis at Limoges, and in the Orphanage
of Nazareth attached to the same Community.
It is touching to see the fidelity and ardour of
the little orphans in taking their turn of inter-
cession for the agonising of each day.

Contemplative Communities can also bear
witness to the benefits of this Devotion. Mere
speculative, philosophic contemplation would
not of itself lead to that supernatural union with
God which gives us so mighty a power over
His Heart, both for our own sanctification and
for the conversion of sinners. Thinking often
of God in this manner is a means to union, but
only a means. The devils and lost souls think
of God more than we do, and yet they can
never attain to union with Him. The contem-
plative life, in the full Christian sense of the
term, implies above all things a loving contem-
plation, for love is at once its principle and its
end. Now, love of God necessarily tends to
union with God ; and the contemplative life, by
all its exercises, develops this tendency. A
soul which follows them faithfully, unites itself
more and more closely to God, loves God more
and more, and gains more and more power over

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Io6 THE AGONISING HEART.

His Heart. And are not the different practices
of the Devotion to the Agonising Heart of Jesus
so many exercises of union ; union in love, and
union in suffering, union even in those things
most contrary to our nature, in grievous sadness,
in weariness, in desolation, in fear and trouble,
in keen and protracted sufferings? Therefore
it is welcomed in cloisters with an eagerness
which the Heart of our Master fails not to
reward. Let us mention, as examples, La
Trappe of Monte'limar, where a person who
generously assisted the infant Community of
the Agonising Heart has taken the vows, under
the name of Sister Ephrene; the Carmel of
Rennes, which printed the statutes of our Asso-
ciation ; the Monastery of the Visitation at
Vienna; the Nuns of the Visitation at Mans,
who are members of the Confraternity estab-
lished in their church, who keep the register of
Associates, and offer special prayers each day
for the dying who are recommended to them.
Many other Religious Houses might be men-
tioned where chapels have been dedicated to
the Agonising Heart of Jesus.

It is much to be wished that this Devotion
were firmly established in every Community, so
that the Religious themselves, and those with
whom they have to do, might fully enter into it.
Might they not, with the permission of their
Bishops, form Associations in their churches,
and have them affiliated to the Archconfraternity

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

at Jerusalem ? Or, if this plan should present
too many difficulties, might they not send then-
names to some Confraternity already existing ?

CHAPTER VII.

GRACES OBTAINED.

Blessings connected with the worship of the Sacred
Heart. Blessings received by the Associates of the
Agonising Heart. Their special happiness in Heaven.
Graces which they gain for others. Examples.

The Devotion of the Agonising Heart of Jesus
shares in those benedictions promised by our
Lord to the general Devotion to the Sacred
Heart, of which it is a branch. Our Lord said
to the Blessed Margaret Mary : " I promise
you that My Heart will open to shed abundant
influence of divine love on those who pay It
this honour, and lead others to do so."* This
holy Virgin was so persuaded of the reality of
the revelation that she went on to say — "Such
grace will be gained by Religious Orders from
this Devotion, that no other means will be
required for the restoration of fervour and regu-
larity in the most relaxed Communities, or for
the complete perfection of those who are strictly
faithful to their vows. My Divine Saviour
showed me that those who labour for the

* Langnet, La Vic de la B. Marguerite Marie, 1. iv.

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108 THE AGONISING HEART.

salvation of souls will have the art of touching
the most hardened hearts, and will obtain mar-
vellous success, if they are themselves filled
with devotion to His Divine Heart Those
who live in the world will obtain the graces
needful for their state, that is to say, peace in
their families, support in their toils, and the
blessing of God on all their undertakings. The
adorable Heart will be their place of refuge
during life, and especially at the hour of their
death."* The Agonising Heart of Jesus is
indeed a refuge and a source of abundant
graces to the Associates. It gives them patience
and strength in their trials, consolation and joy
in their sorrows, a burning and generous love
for the Saviour Who, having suffered in His
own Person, still suffers in that of His members.
Their intentions become more pure, their zeal
more active, their fear of death more salutary,
their desire to console the Divine Sufferer more
ardent, their joy in winning souls greater and
more heartfelt. But grace is essentially invisible,
and very often the Associates are not aware in
this world of all the supernatural assistance they
have received; in Heaven they will see what
this Devotion has gained for them. There they
will enjoy happiness of a special kind, not the
less real in its nature because it forms only a
part of their accidental beatitude. The Founder
of the work speaks of it as follows : — " To form
* Languet, Vie de la B. Marguerite Marie, 1. vi.

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THE CONFRATERNITY. IO9

an idea of this happiness, and to quicken our
desires for it, we must remember that among
the Elect in Heaven there are not only different
degrees but also different kinds of bliss. Is
there not in the world a great difference between
the joys of a child and of a father, between
those of a subject and of a sovereign ? Besides
the father's individual happiness, has he not a
special pleasure in seeing himself surrounded by
a loving and beloved family? There is some-
thing of the same kind in Heaven. There are
parental joys for those who have been the
means of bringing others to eternal life. Those
who have laboured exclusively for their own
salvation will be happy, no doubt, but those
who have laboured at the same time for the
salvation of others will have a joy beyond that
which is common to all the Saints. For, as
God the Father gives earthly fathers a certain
share in the prerogatives and joys of His
Paternity, so the Son of God, the Saviour,
associates with Himself some chosen souls, who
with Him and by Him save the world. As
King and Father of all the Elect He rejoices
in the joy of all His children, and He is
glorious in their glory. After Jesus, Mary the
Queen and Mother of the Elect is happy in
their bliss and glorious in their glory. Then
come the Apostles, that is to say, all those who
openly or secretly have participated in the
Saviour's work of restoration. And amongst

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IIO THE AGONISING HEART.

their number I see souls unknown to the world,
whose fervent prayers and whose union with
Jesus Christ have helped to people Heaven.
The bliss of these souls is beyond what we can
conceive. . It is multiplied by the number they
have saved. If your prayers have gained salva-
tion for twenty or thirty of the dying, your
happiness in Heaven will be twenty or thirty
times more perfect than if you had not prayed
for them."*

But the graces on which we would dwell
above all are those gained for the sick and
dying. God only can tell their number, for
He only knows to what prayers and efforts He
has been pleased to grant the conversion of
any dying person. Sometimes, at the last
moment, a mystery of love takes place between
the guilty soul and its Judge ; this may be a
fruit of our intercessions. An author who had
gained a sad kind of celebrity, and had been
the declared enemy of a great Religious Order
and a promoter of the Italian Revolution, was
struck by sudden death. We have often been
told that after his death he appeared to one of
these Religious, who lived a very holy life at
Naples, and said to him — " I am not lost ; I
have had time to make an act of contrition, and
I owe this grace to the prayers which you all
make for your enemies." The devoted friends

* Devotion an Cozur Agonisant dc JJsns, ch. vi.
Avignon, 1850, in 18.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

Ill

of the Saviour's Agonising Heart may thus
obtain by their supplications many hidden
graces and unknown conversions. The living
are witnesses of many most precious though not
always extraordinary favours gained by them for
the dying.

At Limoges, in the beginning of the year
1862, the Nuns of St Alexis wrote : " Since we
have embraced the Devotion to the Agonising
Heart of Jesus and the compassionate Heart of
Mary, we have found it to be a source of most
precious and abundant graces for ourselves and
also for the poor sick in our great hospital.
We no longer have the grief of seeing the dying
refuse the last sacraments. When we have to
deal with the most hardened sinners we pray to
the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary for them,
and are immediately answered."*

A letter from the Superior of the Visitation of
Sainte Marie, at Mans, dated March 4, 1864,
gives the following testimony : " As to the fruit
produced by this pious Confraternity, we can
affirm that it is immense. We do not enumerate
details, but we know that holy deaths are often
due to it. We have experienced this in the case
of our dear Sisters, whom we have had the
consolation to see at their last moments in the
most satisfactory state of mind."

Another letter, written by the Superior of the

* Messagcr cite SacrS Cocur, art. iv., p. 81. Juillet,
1862.

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112 THE AGONISING HEART.

Agonising Heart, at Mende, on the 6th of March
in the same year, says : " We know that many
conversions have been obtained, but the details
have not always a special interest One thing
is certain, that since the establishment of the
Association in this place, and more particularly
since the foundation of our House, an improve-
ment has been observed in the minds of the
dying, and, except in cases of sudden death,
no one has died without the sacraments. A
man under sentence of death, whose state of
mind was most deplorable, has at last yielded to
grace, and has consoled us by his penitence as
much as he had previously appalled us by his
impiety."

We proceed to relate some cases of special
interest. They will serve to show what graces
may be expected from the Agonising Heart of
our good Master.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DYING CONVERTED.

Conversion of two old men, one rich and the other poor,
one at home and the other in a hospital.

Towards the end of the year 1857, in the town

of , a devoted member of our Confraternity

was attending the death-bed of a man sixty-one
years of age. He was a very learned man, but
ignorant of the ways of salvation. He used to-

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THE CONFRATERNITY. 113

say — " If any one presumes to bring a Priest to
see me I shall manage to get rid of him at once ;
I have enough strength left to throw him out ot
the window. My principles are well known ; I
intend to die as I have lived!" Some one
having tried to speak to him of a Priest, his
answer was — " If you mention those people to
me again, I forbid you my house."

His friend recommended him to the prayers
of the Association. This was done at seven
o'clock in the evening. The night passed
quietly. In the morning the sick man asked
to see the doctor, who found him in the greatest
danger. He then sent for the person who had
spoken to him formerly about religion, and said :
4< Iam not of the same mind that I was yester-
day. You have spoken to me of the mercy of
God, you have told me that He is always ready
to receive the greatest sinners. If this be true,
go for a Priest, and make haste or it will be
too late." He was told that many prayers had
been offered for him, and expressed gratitude
for them.

A venerable Priest came with all speed, and
soon after he went to bring the Blessed Sacra-
ment. In the meantime the dying man desired
that all the flowers in his garden should be
gathered, to adorn his room and the places
through which the Blessed Sacrament would
pass. We cannot describe his transports of joy
and gratitude on seeing It arrive. Many of

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THE AGONISING HEART.

those who followed burst into tears, and their
emotion was increased when they heard this
happy penitent express his great grief for having
offended God, beg pardon from those around
him for the offence he had given them, and
request them to tell their acquaintance of his
real repentance. Afterwards he told his Con-
fessor that he regretted but one thing, namely,
not to have even a year to make amends for his
former evil life.

When he was about to receive the Holy
Communion, he repeated three times in French
the Dominc non sum dignus, with a mingled
expression of sorrow and joy. " Is it possible,"
said he, "that God will condescend to come
into a heart so denied as mine?" After the
Communion he asked for Extreme Unction.
His Confessor administered it with joy, and
says that he can never forget the consolation
this conversion gave him. Nothing more re-
mained to be done, and in a quarter of an hour
he went to Heaven to sing the mercies of the
Lord for ever.*

In the month of March, 1861, a man of sixty
years of age went to the Hospital of St. Alexis,
at Limoges. He was suffering from an acute
malady, and he was a hardened sinner. We
give the story of his conversion as we have
had it from the Nuns : —

"The old man was placed in St. Vincent's

* Lc Cccur Agonisant de Jesus, 5e edit., p. 46 — 50.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

ward. The Sister in charge was preparing the
sick for their Easter duties ; she spoke to the
new comer of receiving the sacraments, but
from his answer she perceived at once that he
was without religion. She asked for prayers for
him, and we trusted in the Agonising Heart of
Jesus and the compassionate Heart of Mary
that the moment of grace would come. But
great was our grief when, during the beautiful
Month of Mary, his state became most alarming,
and he repulsed us with even unusual obstinacy.
He refused to kiss the crucifix, and the hard
and cutting words with which he met any effort
made in his behalf cost the good Sister many
tears.

"The Chaplains had done everything that
zeal could do. The doctors and medical
students had also tried to gain him ; even the
other sick men in the ward, shocked at the
prospect of his unhappy death, had represented
to him how wrong he was in refusing the good
advice of the devoted Sisters. 'You see,'
added these poor people, 1 what the Sister says,
is true. She proves it by coming to serve us,
for she would not do so unless the good God,
to Whom she wishes to bring you back, had not
put it into her heart' ' Leave me alone,' was
his constant answer; 'Priests and Nuns are a
bad set*

" Things were in this state, and the sick man
got worse and worse. We were more and more

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Il6 THE AGONISING HEART.

afraid, thinking that this poor man might die at
any moment We made ceaseless intercessions
to the Agonising Heart of Jesus. We turned
also to the compassionate Heart of our divine
Mother, the Refuge of Sinners and the Channel
of Grace. We prayed with great confidence,
and said — *0 Lord, can it be that Thou hast
intrusted this man to our care, and let him
come by a particular permission of Thy provi-
dence, to this holy house, and yet that he is not
to share the favours abundantly showered down
here ? Oh no, my God, Thou canst not refuse
our prayers ; this poor sinner will not surely die
a reprobate. '

" The beautiful Feast of the Ascension drew
near. The same impenitency continued ; the
dying man grew worse, and we doubted if he
could live through the day. We had no resource
but redoubled prayers. For a long time the
intercession which we make every day from
half-past two to three o'clock had been specially
offered for the conversion of this soul ; that day
we chose a Sister who was fervent and devoted
to the Agonising Heart above all others. It
was the time for Vespers, and we left her in our
little oratory to pour forth her supplication,

"After Vespers, our Chaplain, M. Martin, went
into the pulpit He was to preach on the Feast
of the day, but instead of beginning his subject,
he said, in a voice half choked with tears — * My
brethren, during the eighteen years of my minis-

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117

try I have never seen anything like the hardness
and impenitence shown at this, moment by a
sick man who is at the point of death. We
have prayed, we have wept, we have exhorted
him, but all has been in vain. Let us pray
again, my brethren, for this soul has cost the-
blood of the Son of God. " Most holy Virgin,
present our humble supplications to the Divine
Majesty and we shall be heard. You can refuse
us nothing in this beautiful month, which is.
dedicated to you."' M. Henry, our Superior
and Vicar-General, rose and asked all present
to say a Pater and an Ave. (People attend the
Offices in the beautiful church of this hospital,
which is consecrated to the Agonising Heart of
Jesus.) All present fell on their knees and
prayed fervently, many shed tears.

" At this moment the hardened sinner's heart
was miraculously changed. The Sister in charge
of the ward went straight to him when she left
the church. 1 My good man/ said she, 4 you are
suffering a great deal ; say what I tell you and
you will be relieved : " My God, have mercy on
me.'" And for the first time, without making
any objection, he repeated the words after her.
Encouraged by this change, she proceeded :.
* " My God, I am very sorry for having offended
Thee ; I believe in Thee, I hope in Thee, I
love Thee with all my heart Holy Virgin, my
good Mother, have pity on me. Good St.
Joseph, pray for me." ' He repeated it all. The:

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Il8 THE AGONISING HEART.

Sister was delighted, and said in her heart —
* O Agonising Heart of Jesus, Thy merits have
saved this soul from hell.' The very counte-
nance of the sick man had a different expression.
M. Martin came in, and the poor man begged
him to hear his confession. The good Priest
encouraged and consoled him, embraced him,
heard his confession, and gave him Extreme
Unction and the Holy Viaticum. He was with
him till he breathed his last on the following
day.

"This dying man was sincerely converted.
He seemed happy whenever the Sister came
near him. He joined in her prayers, he kissed
the crucifix, which he had before refused to
look at, and spoke of his happiness to those
around him."*

CHAPTER IX.

OTHER EXAMPLES.

Conversion of a young man who had resisted grace.
Conversion of an impious blasphemer. Reflections of
a Religious.

We give two other conversions related by the
•same Nuns : —

"About the end of October, 1861, we
received into the hospital a young man in

* Messager du Sacri Ccettr, Juillet, 1862, art. iv.,
p. 81—84.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

II 9

consumption ; he was placed in St Peter's
Ward. A month later his state became alarming.
He refused to go to confession. The disease
made rapid progress, and the Sister was very
uneasy about hhn. He was well instructed, as
he had been studying for the Priesthood, and
she saw that it was resistance to grace which
had brought his soul into so deplorable a state.

"We applied, as we always do, to the
Agonising Heart of Jesus and the compas-
sionate Heart of Mary. Our half-hour of
intercession, our Communions, our prayers, were
offered for him; we constantly repeated the
invocations, 'O most merciful Jesus/ &c, and
'O most merciful Mary/ &c. Remembering
the many graces They had already granted, we
continued to hope.

"But one day the Sister found him so iH
that she felt it her duty to speak more strongly
than she had yet done. 'You weary me, my
Sister, the Chaplain has also wearied me; let
me be quiet,' this was his only answer. Soon
afterwards a fit of weakness came on, he was
thought to be near death, and seemed rather
alarmed. The nurse of the infirmary had been
charged by the Sister to call her if a favourable
change seemed likely to take place, and while
she attended him, she spoke to him of God r
and prayed for him.

" On the following day, when our good
Mother paid her visit to the hospital, she met

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THE AGONISING HEART.

the doctor and the Sister in charge of the
dispensary. The Sister seemed so agitated, that
the Superior asked her what was the matter.
* That poor man/ she said, ' will die to-day, and
he refuses the last sacraments. 7 The doctor
said, * It is true that he cannot live through the
<Iay.' Our Mother hastened to him to make a
last effort, but great was her surprise and joy
when after listening to a few kind words, he
begged for a Priest to hear his confession.

" The Priest was soon there, and the sick
man, touched by an irresistible impulse of grace,
received the sacraments in the best possible
state of mind. Contrary to all expectations,
God prolonged his life for a few days, no doubt
to give him the opportunity of repairing the
offence which he had given to his companions
in the ward.

" Is not this conversion a miracle of grace, •
due to the infinite merits of our Divine Saviour,
Who suffered so bitter an Agony for the salva-
tion of sinners ? We cannot doubt that suppli-
cations to the Agonising Heart of Jesus and
the compassionate Heart of Mary are always
heard. Blessed and praised eternally be those
Sacred Hearts, to whose service we consecrate
•ourselves for ever. Amen."*

About the middle of the year 1863, the good
Nuns recounted another conversion : —

* Messagcr du SacrS Cccur, Juillet, 1862, art. iv.,
P. 85-87.

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" We had in the hpspital a sick man named
Peillaraud (patois for rag-man). His body was
covered with dreadful ulcers, and the state of
his soul was far more deplorable.

" For many years he had obstinately resisted
every endeavour to bring him back to the right
path. He could not bear to hear God spoken
of, he laughed at religion, he tried to prevent
others, and answered by blasphemies any
attempt made to console him. When the Sister
in charge of the ward had finished the catechism
which is daily repeated there, he used to begin
a parody on it, evidently inspired by the Evil
One himself. We prayed and waited long, and
at last we trusted that a Mission which was to
be given at the hospital in the month of March,
would change this heart of stone. All in vain ;
the example of the other sick people, and the
zeal of the Missionaries, were of no effect. He
would not even speak civilly to the good
4 Fathers, and they were obliged in sorrow to
give him up. No one in the house ventured
any more to mention the sacraments, or, indeed,
the subject of religion at all to him.

" Nevertheless, we continued to place our
confidence in the Agonising Heart of Jesus,
through the compassionate Heart of Mary. We
were not dismayed. Our Divine Master and
His tender Mother were moved by our constant
prayers. Nothing but a miracle could reach
this case, and it was granted.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

"A sudden and irresistible grace impelled
this poor sinner to send for one of our good
Priests, whom he had so often insulted. He
said he wanted to make his. confession at once.
The first day it took two hours. Before long he
had the happiness of receiving the Holy
Viaticum and Extreme Unction, and the Bishop
kindly came to the ward to confirm him. He
made reparation for the offence he had given,
and his death was full of consolation to us.
Love, honour, praise, and glory be to the
Agonising Heart of our Divine Master, and to
the compassionate Heart of the Mother of
Mercies."*

We cannot do better than conclude by giving
our readers the reflections of a Religious on
these and similar instances of conversion : —

" It was indeed a heavenly inspiration which
led Father Lyonnard to establish the Devotion
to the Agonising Heart of Jesus. The dying
are too much neglected by Christians. This*
is a great misfortune, and one which we must
endeavour to remedy by prayer and devoted-
ness. The devil always, like a lion seizing his
prey, redoubles his efforts at the awful moment
which decides the soul's eternal fate. You
know what infernal means he takes to prevent a
Priest approaching to the dying, what a system
of machinations he employs to keep souls at a

* Messager du Sacrc ( Coeur^ Juillet, 1863, art. vii.,.
p. 47, 48.

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THE CONFRATERNITY. 1 23

♦distance from God till death overtakes them.
Everywhere, alas ! we see relations and friends
deterred by sinful fear from speaking of God to
the sick who are about to appear before Him.
They shrink from giving a painful shock ; and
so they leave the soul in ignorance of its real
state, sliding into the bottomless pit, unwarned,
unaided; they will wait till the death-rattle is
heard, and till consciousness is gone, before
they call for a Priest, who can then only give
absolution and Extreme Unction with the sad
probability of those sacraments being unavailing.

" But it is a sad mistake to think that
speaking of God saddens people. The soul is,
as Tertullian says, naturally Christian ; and if
there is a time when its immortal aspirations
are stronger than another, it is at the moment
of contact with eternity. No one knows what
heavenly attractions, what appeals of grace, are
felt by a soul on the point of returning to its
•Creator and Saviour. No one knows the peni-
tence, the holy recollections, the hopes that
•may be awakened in that hour when the
enemies of salvation are making a last effort to
frustrate God's redeeming work ; but when He
Who shed His Blood for the soul is supporting
it with even unusual aid, perhaps one word of
warning and advice given to that soul at such a
moment might be the means of its conversion,
and of its eternal welfare.

" Oh ! would that we knew the full value of

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124 THE AGONISING HEART.

a soul, the necessity of the means established in
the Church for the restoration of lost grace, the
greatness of that divine holiness with which we
must be clothed to appear before God, we
should then hesitate no longer; we should
exhort urgently, and at any cost, and we should
gain the victory, a victory of eternal salvation
for the souls that we love."*

CHAPTER X.

ARCHCON FRATERN ITY AT JERUSALEM.

All hearts are turned towards Jerusalem. A young
person invokes the Agonising Heart for her dying
father ; causes a medal to be struck ; wishes for the
establishment of an Archconfraternity at Jerusalem ;
corresponds with Father Lyonnard. The Patriarch,
Mgr. Valerga, views the project with favour. Its
execution delayed by difficulties.

The Prophet Isaiah declared of old, that the
sepulchre of Christ should be glorious (Isa.
xi. 10), and in fulfilment of this prediction,
Christians, during many centuries, might be
seen gathering in the guise of humble pilgrims
around the tomb of their Redeemer, and visiting
the other spots which His presence had conse-
crated ; and when these holy places had fallen
under the dominion of the Mahometans, they

* Messager du SacrS Caw, Fevrier, 1864., art. v.,
p. 8&— 90.

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THE CONFRATERNITY. 1 25

went forth valiantly to do battle for their
deliverance.

At the present day all Christian hearts are
drawn towards Jerusalem. Heretics and schis-
matics, Germans, English, and Russians, vie
with Catholics in pressing towards the Holy
City, in getting possession of a corner of
ground, and establishing a chapel or sanctuary
there. The very tumult and discord heard
around the Holy Sepulchre, are a homage paid
by all nations, tongues, sects, and rites, to the
tomb of One Who was more than a sage, more
than a hero, more than a man — to the Incarnate
Son of God, who died for the world's salvation.

The increased facility of communication in
our days has revived the custom of pilgrimages
to Palestine, but at all periods the thoughts and
affections of the Faithful have centred in Jeru-
salem. Just as churches were formerly turned
to the east, in order that the Priest, when
offering to God the Adorable Victim, might
look towards the guest-chamber where the
Lord's Supper was first celebrated, and towards
Calvary, where that same Victim first offered
Himself, so all true Christian hearts turn to the
east, to Sion, to the Mount of Olives, to
Golgotha, when they offer their daily Sacrifices
to God in union with the Sacrifice made by our
Blessed Saviour. The idea of establishing the
Association of the Agonising Heart of Jesus as
an Archconfraternity arose in the mind of a

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THE AGONISING HEART.

pious person whose sorrows had made her mind'
dwell on the thought of Jerusalem.

She saw her beloved father almost at the
point of death, without having attempted to
make his peace with God. Her filial piety, her
ardent faith, her natural affection, all combined
to overwhelm her with unspeakable sorrow.
The thought of the Agony of Jesus made her
implore that merciful Saviour Who had under-
gone so much physical and moral Agony for our
sakes, to save the soul of her father, and to-
relieve her cruel anxiety on his account. This
double grace was granted her, and in her trans-
port of gratitude and joy she longed to persuade
all the afflicted, especially those whose friends-
are taken from them, to have recourse to the
same Divine Comforter. She wished to glorify the
Agonising Heart of Jesus to induce the Faithful
to show new marks of confidence and of love.

She thought of having a medal struck in
memory of our Lord's Agony in the Garden of
Olives. A pious friend, already well known by
her devotion to Jesus in the Sacrament of His
Love, defrayed the first expenses, and had the
medal struck by Alcan, and when she went to-
Rome presented it to Pius IX., who had already
approved of the design. The Holy Father,
on receiving it, said, " Here is the medal that
suits me ! " He granted by word of mouth to
this medal all the indulgences granted to others
by himself and his predecessors. It has beerk

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widely spread, and has helped to promote the
Devotion to the Agonising Heart

The idea of the Archconfraternity at Jeru-
salem had, as we have said, occurred to the
pious lady who originated the medal. It seemed
to her that the afflicted might be led to turn
their eyes to the Garden of Gethsemane, and to
draw strength for their different necessities from
the Agonising Heart of the Divine Saviour.
But the Founder of our Devotion had forestalled
her. From the first he had seen the advantage
of making the Association an Archconfraternity.
He had written several times on the subject to
the Father General of the Society of Jesus, at
Rome. The Nuns of the Visitation at Mans
had also petitioned that the Association already
established in their church might be elevated
into an Archconfraternity. The power and the
gentleness of the workings of Providence may
be traced throughout. The fervent Religious
and the pious lady, who were attracted to the
Garden of Olives by similar motives, were now
brought into communication with each other.
Her desire was that all the afflicted might find
consolation in the Agonies of the Divine Heart
while he sought especially the crowning conso-
lation, the grace of a holy death for all the
dying. They were united in the purpose of
honouring the Agonising Heart of their Lord
by a special worship of compassion and of love.

Father Lyonnard and this devout soul agreed

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THE AGONISING HEART.

together as to the nature of the new Archcon-
fraternity. The Father drew up a formulary,
mentioning the privileges and indulgences which
they wished to obtain from the Sovereign
Pontiff. It was submitted to Mgr. Foulquier,
Bishop of Mende; our Lord was pleased to
give this holy and devoted Prelate the conso-
lation of forwarding an enterprise so well fitted
to promote His glory and the salvation of souls.
He encouraged the authors of this pious project,
approved of the formulary, and sent it to the
Patriarch of Jerusalem, earnestly begging His
Eminence to take the matter into consideration,
■and to use his influence in recommending it to
the Sovereign Pontiff. Mgr. Valerga replied
with much goodwill, and promised to do all in
his power for the establishment of the Arch-
confraternity at Jerusalem.

On the nth of October, 1863, M. l'Abbe'
Dequevauviller, his Vicar-General, wrote as
follows : — " His Eminence is most anxious that
the Archconfraternity of the Agonising Heart ot
Jesus should be attached to the church whose
foundations were laid two years ago, but which
is still unfinished for want of funds. The walls
of the choir and the two side chapels are
finished as far as the vaulting. One of the side
chapels is destined for the future Archconfra-
ternity, and when it is completed Monseigneur
will endeavour to obtain from the Holy See the
spiritual favours desired."

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The Patriarch himself wrote on the 4 th of
December in the same year : — "I wish to
encourage the establishment of this pious
Archconfraternity at Jerusalem; but there are
difficulties in the way which cannot at once be
overcome. Remember that there are only
about twelve hundred Catholics in Jerusalem,
and that several Associations or Confraternities
already exist. In order to forward the present
project, I think it will be well to amalgamate
the existing Congregation of our Lady of Seven
Dolours with the Archconfraternity of the
Agonising Heart of Jesus. This change must
be gradual, and one necessary condition which
we hope to see fulfilled in the course of the
year 1864 is the completion of the three
principal chapels of our new church. Some of
the religious ceremonies of the Confraternity
might be performed in the Holy Grotto in the
Garden of Olives, which is about half an hour's
distance outside the walls of the town, and I
willingly consent to have the principal chapel of
the Patriarchal church consecrated to this
touching mystery of the Passion. But before
the Archconfraternity of the Agonising Heart of
Jesus can be erected at Jerusalem, we must first
have a simple Confraternity, to which, by
Apostolic concession, the Confraternities already
existing, or hereafter to be founded in France,
may be associated."

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130 THE AGONISING HEART.

CHAPTER XL

ARCHCON FRATERNITY AT JERUSALEM.

Decree of the Patriarch establishing the Confraternity.
Indulgences granted by the Pope. How to become
a member. First consequence, propagation of Devo-
tion to the Agonising Heart. Second consequence,
the diffusion of the general Devotion to the Sacred
Heart. Egotism and self-indulgence will be thus
diminished by this Devotion.

The simple Confraternity spoken of in the pre-
ceding letter was established by a Rescript, of
which we give the translation : —

Joseph Valerga, by divine mercy, and the favour of the
Apostolic See, Patriarch of Jerusalem, Vicar- Apostolic,
Delegate of the Holy See, &c. &c.

Amidst the various afflictions which trouble the present
age, every Christian soul may find many most powerful
motives of consolation in devout and constant meditation
on the Sorrows and the Passion of our Redeemer Jesus
Christ Moved by this consideration, some pious souls
desire to form a holy society, with the object of paying a
special worship to the most afflicted Heart of Jesus, so
overwhelmed with sorrows throughout His whole life,
and enduring so fearful an Agony in the Garden of Olives,
in order to gain, by their prayers, in virtue of the infinite
merits of that holy Agony, the grace of a happy death for
all the dying throughout the world ; and lastly, to draw,
from the contemplation of the most loving Heart of our
Saviour, Which is the source of all consolation, strength
and courage to meet the troubles of life. They would
have every one learn from It the power of divine resig-
nation under all circumstances ; they would have all turn
to It for real, holy, and lasting consolation in suffering.

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

The value of such a Confraternity must be great at any-
time, but it is especially manifest in the present days of
trouble and perturbation, when society is passing through
sad vicissitudes, and many persons remain until death
indifferent to their salvation. Desirous that the Faithful
committed to our charge should have a share in all the
graces and spiritual benefits which this Confraternity
procures, or may hereafter procure, and yielding willingly
to the ardent request of a large number of Christians, we
receive this Confraternity into our Patriarchal diocese, we
approve of it, and, in virtue of our authority, by these
endowments we establish it in this holy city of Jerusalem.

But seeing that the number of the Faithful in this city
is too small to allow of the multiplication of Confra-
ternities, the members of the old Confraternity of the
Blessed Virgin Mary have promptly and willingly entered
the new Confraternity. As the practices of the one in no-
way interfere with, but rather forward, the objects of the
other, we cannot but approve of this manifestation of
their zeal. Therefore, in virtue of the present Rescript,
we unite these two Confraternities under the title of the
Most Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ Agonising
in the Garden of Olives, and of the Transfixion of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, with the statutes which we shall
sanction. We exhort all the Faithful under our care to
embrace this Devotion heartily for the good of their
souls. ^

Given at Jerusalem, in our Patriarchal palace, the 14th
of June, 1864.

Some time afterwards the Abbe* Dequevau-
viller wrote as follows to the Superior of the
Agonising Heart at Mende : — " I am happy to
inform you that our dear Confraternity of the
Agonising Heart of Jesus was established at
Jerusalem two months ago, and I am glad to
add that it is working admirably. The Asso-

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132 THE AGONISING HEART.

ciates meet every Sunday in the new chapel of
the Agonising Heart of Jesus, and we daily
expect from Rome a picture of this touching
mystery."

On the 14th of August in the same year, in
an audience given to the secretary of the Sacred
Congregation of the Propaganda, His Holiness
Pope Pius IX. was pleased to grant a plenary
indulgence, applicable to the souls in Purgatory,
on the following days, to all the Faithful of both
sexes who are members of the Confraternity at
Jerusalem, canonically established under the
title of the Most Sacred Agonising Heart of
Jesus, and of the Transfixion of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, provided that in a devout frame
of mind they confess their sins, receive Holy
Communion, visit some church, chapel, or
public oratory on the said days, praying there a
certain length of time for the propagation of
our holy faith : —

On the day of admission, the Feast of the
Prayer of our Lord on the Mount of Olives, the
two Feasts of the Precious Blood of Jesus
Christ, the Feast of the Five Wounds and of
the Most Holy Sacrament, Holy Thursday, the
Feast of the Sacred Heart, the two Feasts of
the Transfixion of Mary — that is to say, of our
Lady of Seven Dolours, the Feast of St. Joseph,
and of his Patronage, and also at the hour of
■death, provided that in a proper state of mind
they devoutly invoke the Holy Name of Jesus

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THE CONFRATERNITY.

*33

with their lips, or, if they cannot speak, at least
in their hearts.

In the following year, one of the Fathers of
the Society of Jesus, who has a special zeal
for the honour of the Agonising Heart and for
the salvation of the dying, distributed a printed
paper, urgently inviting Christians to join this
Confraternity at Jerusalem. In an autograph
letter to the Rev. Father Boue', His Excellency
the Patriarch had expressed his desire to see
many of the Bishops establish the Confraternity
in their dioceses, and ask for the indulgences
granted to that of the Holy City.

At length the long-desired Archconfraternity
was established, by a Brief dated August, 1867,
of which we subjoin a translation : —

PIUS IX., POPE.

FOR A PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE.

The Roman Pontiffs have never ceased to favour, by
proofs of their paternal affection, and to enrich with
special honours, privileges, and indulgences, the Lay
Confraternities, established in the name of the Lord for
the performance of holy and pious works, which are of
so great ornament and service to the Church of God.
Hence, having been informed by our beloved son, the
Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation of the Propaganda,
that, by the praiseworthy zeal of our Venerable Brother,
Joseph, Patriarch of Jerusalem, a pious Confraternity of
the Agonising Heart of Jesus and the Dolours of the
Blessed Virgin Mary has been established at Jerusalem
some years ago, to obtain for those who are in their last
agony the grace of a happy death, and having been
untreated to enrich the afore-mentioned Confraternity
M

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134 THE AGONISING HEART.

with the title and privileges of an Archconfraternity, in
order that so salutary an institute may, by God's blessing,
be more widely extended, We, wishing to testify our sin-
gular goodwill to all and every one whom these letters
concern, and absolving them, and considering them
absolved, by the mere effect of this present letter, from
all sentences of excommunication, interdict, or other
ecclesiastical censures and penalties, in whatever way
or for whatever cause passed against them, should they
have incurred any, by our Apostolic authority in virtue of
these present letters, establish and constitute in perpetuity
the Confraternity established at Jerusalem, under the title
of the Agonising Heart of Jesus and the Dolours of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, as an Archconfraternity, with all
the accustomed rights, privileges, honours, pre-eminences,
and indulgences. We grant also to the Directors, or the
Officers and Associates, present and future, of the same
Confraternity, thus established into an Archconfraternity,
the power of aggregating to the said Archconfraternity,
with the express consent of the Patriarch of Jerusalem for
the time being, other Confraternities of the same name
and institute, wherever they may be, except within our
city of Rome, with the permission of the Ordinary,
observing the Constitution Qucecumque of Clement VIII.,
our predecessor, and the Decree of the Congregation of
Indulgences, issued on the 8th of January, 1861 ; and we
give to them the power of communicating to them all the
indulgences granted by the Apostolic See to the aforesaid
Confraternity, and others which are communicable, freely,
lawfully, and in perpetuity.

Notwithstanding all things to the contrary, even those
deserving special and individual modification.

Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, under the ring of the
Fisherman, August the 23rd, 1867, the twenty-second
year of our Pontificate.

N. Card. Paracciani Clarelli.

(Locus Sigilli).

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The Faithful who wish to enter the Archr
confraternity of Jerusalem, but who find a diffi-
culty in sending their names directly there, may
send them to the Director of the Eastern schools,
at Paris, or to the Superior of the Agonising
Heart, at Lyons, either of whom will faithfully
forward them.*

The more the Archconfraternity spreads
throughout the whole Church, the greater results
may be expected to follow.

We will say a few words regarding these
results. The first will be the wide and rapid
propagation of devotion to the Agonising Heart
of Jesus. Grace makes use of natural means
for the extension of its empire. A devotion or
practice of piety which is recommended by a
great name, or associated with a celebrated
place, shines with a kind of reflected light, and
finds a readier access into people's minds. The
memory of a Saint keeps alive the works which
he has founded, and there are certain towns
whose influence is felt far and wide. Rome
and Jerusalem have this glorious privilege, as
well as many other common characteristics.
Both are, as it were, separated from the world
by a desert, both are full of ruins which show
that they have been more than once the prey

* A M. le Directeur des Ecoles d'Orient, 12, Rue du
Regard, Paris. A Mdme. la Superieure du Coeur-
Agonisant, Quartier de Monplaisir, aux Quatre-Maisons,
II, Lyon.

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136

THE AGONISING HEART.

of conquerors, and both have preserved intact
some remains of former days. Who can fail to
have his heart touched when he visits the cata-
combs at Rome, in which the early Christians
used to assemble ; the amphitheatre where the
Martyrs died; and the prison where St. Peter
was a captive ? Or again, who is not moved to
tears when amidst the many holy places of
Jerusalem, which have been transformed and
beautified, he sees those which still remain in
their primitive condition, such as the grotto
where St. Peter wept over his fault, and the
Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus watered
with His drops of Blood some of those very
olive trees which are still standing ? We welcome
all that Rome sends us, and Christians will also
hail an Archconfraternity coming from Jeru-
salem, from the very scene of the mystery
offered to their veneration, and from the very
spot where the Divine Saviour Himself died.

The second consequence will be the wider
spread of the general Devotion to the Sacred
Heart through all grades of Christian society.
Our Lord revealed this Devotion for the benefit
of all; He wished that all should share His
love and His graces, so that their love to Him
might never grow cold. Have His intentions
been completely fulfilled ? It would seem not,
for this admirable Devotion is as yet confined
to a chosen number of pious souls. Constant
and praiseworthy efforts are made, not only to

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•enlarge its sphere, but also to make it penetrate
more deeply ; that is to say, to propagate it in
countries where it is little known, and among
those lukewarm Christians who think they are
doing great things if they only observe the
precepts of the decalogue. It will revive the
fire of divine love in their hearts ; it will awaken
their generosity. Will not such cold hearts
open the more readily to receive a Devotion
which comes before them in its most striking,
most tangible, and most sympathetic form ? The
constant appeal to our sorrowful Saviour on
behalf of all the sorrowful, to Jesus in Agony
for all who are in agony ; to the wearied, trem-
bling, saddened Heart of Jesus for all hearts
that are full of weariness, of sadness, of fear,
and of bitterness, cannot but attract them : they
must come to love it, and to join in it By the
Devotion to the Agonising Heart, the sorrows
of Jesus give solace to ths sorrows of man ; the
grief of man seeks its consolation in the grief of
Jesus. We cannot remember Jerusalem without
remembering the Agony and the Death of our
Consoler and Saviour ; in a little while we shall
never think of Jerusalem without thinking of
the Heart of Jesus.

Would that the fervour of these two united
Devotions might oppose the increasing egotism
of the present day ! Hearts are narrowed and
closed by self-interest How can they be
enlarged and opened? Perchance their great

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138 THE AGONISING HEART.

desire to save a relation or friend who is at the
gate of death and of eternity, or their desire to
procure eternal happiness for the dying, will
produce that devotion to the Sacred Heart
which may transform their nature. Sensuality
has invaded society, and one thing which paves
the way for it in pious souls is sentimentality.
For when piety becomes sentimental, it becomes
sensual, because it ceases to be real and practi-
cal, self-denying, and devoted to others. How
vague are those books which ought to contain
solid doctrine ! What indifference and apathy
is to be seen in the fulfilment of all duties
which require an effort, or involve a victory
over natural inclinations ! In the exercise of
this Devotion we stand between those who died
yesterday and those who are to die to-morrow ;
we learn from our Agonising Saviour, Whose
Death is daily and hourly renewed on the altars
of the universe, how to die to ourselves, while we
pray that His merits may be our salvation and
that of the dying. It has a great mission to
fulfil in modern society, by making us faithful
to duty, spite of all the repugnances of feeling
and of sense. There are devout people who
enter so little into the mystery of suffering, that
they lament and are cast down under the burden
of trials, believing them to be a special punish-
ment for their sins. What a gentle and consoling
light shines forth for them from the Heart of the
good Master, in Agony in Jerusalem, in Agony

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THE CONFRATERNITY. 1 39

in the guest-chamber on Mount Sion, in Agony
in the Grotto of the Mount of Olives, in Agony
on the Cross on Calvary's height, always suffer-
ing to expiate the sins of others, to make
satisfaction for them, so that the bolts of divine
justice may be stayed, and mercy may still be
shown to a guilty world ! The very name of
Jerusalem, the Devotion to the Agonising Heart,
ought to raise the courage of these afflicted and
desponding souls, by teaching them that their
sufferings, like those of Jesus, are a gain to the
whole world.

All nations will welcome a Devotion coming
from Jerusalem, that holy city against which no
Christian can have a prejudice. All will find
in it a means for the remission of their sins
through the tender mercies of our God, whereby
the Day-Spring from on high hath visited us,
warming the tepid, strengthening the weak,
awakening those that sleep, and " enlightening
them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of
death" (Luke i. 79).

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III.— THE COMMUNITY.

CHAPTER I.

CONTEMPLATIVE CONGREGATION OF THE
AGONISING HEART.

The work of the Agonising Heart is glorious. Usefulness
of the contemplative life. Its principle and its object
— love of man and love of God. The more contem-
plative Orders love God the more they love their neigh-
bours. Contemplative Communities increase devotion
and love. This will be specially true of the Community
of the Agonising Heart

The Heart of Jesus is the Sun of the moral
world, and we may apply to It the words of
the King of Jerusalem — " The Sun giving light
hath looked upon all things, and full of the
glory of the Lord is His work " (Ecclus. xliL 16).
It has looked upon the dying, It has looked
upon the afflicted ; the rays of mercy have fallen
upon them and they have glorified the Lord,
some by their conversion and others by their
resignation. It has looked with special love on
some pure souls generous enough to follow the
Lamb not only in His joys in Heaven but also
in His Agonies on earth. His look has been a
ray of light to them in what we call a vocation.

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141

They have united in a Community to pray and
to suffer as He did for the salvation of the
dying and the consolation of the afflicted. The
work is full of the glory of the Lord, and we
will give a further account of it.

But in the present day clouds of prejudice
obscure the brightness of this glorious work.
People ask — What is the use of a contemplative
Community ? What is the utility of contempla-
tion ? How can it promote the salvation of the
dying, or give consolation to the afflicted ? Let
us begin by dispelling this cloud, that the work
of the Divine Heart may shine the more
brightly and be the better appreciated.

All men who render to their Creator the
worship He requires from them may be called
religious, but this term is more particularly
applied to those who forsake the world and
consecrate their whole lives to the service of
God. In the same way, as St. Thomas says,
the name of " contemplative " is given, not to
all those who practise contemplation, but only
to those who give up their whole lives to it.*
Rachel, sister of Leah and best-beloved of
Jacob, and Mary, sister of Martha, " who sat at
Jesus' feet and heard His word," are, he adds,
types of the contemplative life.t The life of
Rachel was not useless to the descendants of
Abraham, for she brought forth Joseph, the

* St. Thomas, Sutnm., ii., 2, q. 81, art. I, ad. 5.
t /Md. f q. 179, art. II.

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142 THE AGONISING HEART.

deliverer of his family and the protector of
Israel. Nor has the life of Mary Magdalen
been useless to the world, for countless peni-
tents have followed in her steps from the depths
of sin to the heights of virtue. Can the con-
templative life, then, be useless ? It is the life
of love rather than the exercise of reason.

The contemplative life directs all the powers
of the mind to eternal truths, to the mysteries of
the Redeemer, but at the same time it fixes all
the affections of the heart on God made Man,
dwelling ever amongst us, in His mystical Body
as well as in the Blessed Sacrament What is
the principle and what is the end of the con-
templative life? It is nothing but love.
Although the contemplative life, as the Angel
of the Schools tells us, essentially belongs to
the intelligence, yet its principle is in the
affections, because it is love of God that draws
us to the contemplation of God. And as the
end of anything must correspond with its prin-
ciple, it follows that the end of the contem-
plative life must also be found in the affections.
We find pleasure in the contemplation of a
loved object, and this very pleasure strengthens
our love for the object of our contemplation.*
Does not the sight of one beloved increase our
love ? Who is our Beloved ? Jesus Christ, at
once God and Man, His Humanity as well as
His Divinity, the two natures united in that

* St. Thomas, Sit mm., ii. 2, q. 1 80, art. vii., ad. 1.

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THE COMMUNITY.

143

one Person, which are both comprehended in
the theological virtue of charity. The contem-
plation of Jesus Christ, while it inflames the
heart with love for the divine nature, must
necessarily also kindle love for humanity ;
therefore the angelic Doctor says — "Love of
our neighbour as well as love of God is required
for a contemplative life."*

The virginal and faithful Disciple, St. John,
who rested on His Master's Bosom, and who
had most of the contemplative spirit, was at
once the Apostle of charity towards man and
charity towards God. He writes : "If any man
say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a
liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom
he seeth, how can he love God, Whom he seeth
not? And this commandment we have from
God, that he, who loveth God, love also his
brother" (1 John iv. 20, 21); and in the same
chapter — Every spirit that confesseth not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of
God {Ibid. 3).

If, therefore, contemplative Communities
were to deny "that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh," that is to say, to separate His two
natures ; if they loved the Divinity and were
without devotion to the Humanity, their spirit
would be that of Antichrist, not that of God.
The more the Spirit of God breathes on them
the more intense is their charity for their neigh-

* St. Thomas, Si/mm., ii. 2, q. 180, art. ii., ad. I.

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144 THE AGONISING HEART.

bour, a charity which embraces all men, because
all are united and transfigured in Jesus Christ,
all belong to Him, not merely as children to
their Father, but as members to their Head.
When we look at humanity in some of its poor
members, it seems to us contemptible and
repulsive, but when we look at it in its glorious
Head, the God-Man, we see that it is worthy of
all respect, of all love and devotedness. Now,
the contemplative life leads us to see Jesus
Christ in all men, even in the ignorant whom
we try to instruct, and the sinners whom we
seek to convert. Diseased and paralysed
though they be, they are still members of
Jesus Christ ; He looks on that which we do
for them, for the poor, the afflicted, the sick,
the stranger, the captive, as done unto Him.
(Matt. xxv. 40.)

The many existing contemplative Commu-
nities, whether ancient and austere, like that of
Carmel, or modern and less severe, like that of
Marie-Re'paration, do not merely serve as a
counterpoise to the feverish love of activity of
the present day, but are themselves the nourish-
ment and the fruit of charity. Their ranks are
filled by loving and devoted souls, and they
increase love and devotion. Their mortifica-
tions, their austerities, and prayers, help the
labours of active Communities and make them
fruitful. They lead us to the practice of those
exercises of piety, which are a necessary and

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THE COMMUNITY.

unfailing means of keeping alive our zeal for
the salvation of our souls, and our active and
compassionate charity for our neighbour. Their
example teaches us to renounce ourselves, that
we may the better devote ourselves to others,
for our devotion to our neighbour will always
be in proportion to our renunciation of self.
Truly it is needful that some souls should reach
the greatest heights of detachment, should for-
sake themselves, their families, all the goods
and pleasures of this world, in order that others
may devote themselves generously to the service
of Christ's suffering members.

Such advantages are very manifest in the
Community of which we are about to give a
sketch. What treasures of love must the
Agonising Heart of the Saviour have poured
into the hearts of women, to enable them to
give their fortune, their liberty, their prospects,
for the sake of obtaining blessings for the dying !
Surely their daily sacrifices must quicken the
zeal of all Christians for the conversion of the
dying and the consolation of the afflicted. Is
it not well that, while the wicked take care to
avoid the presence of a Priest on all the great
occasions of life, while they bind themselves
together in order to die and to make others die
in impenitence, some chosen souls should be
found who practise devotion to its fullest extent,
who draw others on to follow them, and unite
them in a holy league, so that all hearts and

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146 THE AGONISING HEART.

voices and hands may combine their efforts to
save those poor sinners who have but a few
moments more to live before their eternal doom
is sealed ?

We shall satisfy a legitimate curiosity by
giving many details regarding this new Con-
gregation. People can become acquainted with
active Communities by visiting their houses and
conversing with the members ; and even the old
cloistered and contemplative Communities are
known by their history and the lives of their
Founders and Saints. But the Community of
the Agonising Heart is still in its infancy ; it is
cloistered, and few of our readers may be able
to go to Lyons or to Mende to see it, and then
only through a grating. We are obliged to omit
many interesting details which relate to persons
still living.

CHAPTER II.

IDEA OF THE FOUNDATION.

The Foundress' attraction for Religious life. She is left a
widow with ten children ; devotes herself to the care of
the sick ; builds a chapel in honour of the Agonising
Heart ; wishes to establish a Community ; speaks of
her desire to Father Lyonnard ; and resolves to under-
take it.

A young person who had been brought up very
piously, felt from her childhood a great wish to
enter the Religious life, but in accordance with

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THE COMMUNITY.

147

the desire of her parents she was married in her
seventeenth year. She was always persuaded
that God would consider her responsible for her
early wishes. This deep but calm conviction
interfered in no way with her affection for her
husband and children ; and it was only a safe-
guard against evil, and an incentive to good.
Her husband, who had been everything she
could wish, died the death of the just, on the
Feast of the Immaculate Conception, after a
very short illness. While she was overwhelmed
with sorrow beside his lifeless form, she seemed
to see more clearly what God required of her,
and she promised to devote the rest of her days
ten Him.

But arduous duties soon bade her control
her grief and restrain her desires ; ten children,
seven of whom were still minors, required her
care. She was obliged to provide for their
future, and to look after business matters, which
were quite new to her, and caused her many
trials during some years. But her promise to
God was always before her. What a struggle
nature must have gone through in these circum-
stances ? If nature consents to be led to God,
it wishes at least to go by a path strewn with
roses ; but grace leads it to the sacrifice by a
painful and thorny road. At the moment when
grace calls a person to perform what he or she
has long promised and hoped to do, nature will
resist — there must be a conflict. The tender

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148 THE AGONISING HEART.

mother's heart felt all these difficulties before
she tore herself away from her ten children to
obey what she considered was the voice of God.

While things were in this state, a friend of
hers, who had founded the Hospital of Calvary
at Lyons, died, after expressing an earnest desire
that she would devote herself to this- work.

Mdme. 's Religious vow was still delayed

by business, and she was happy in the mean-
time to be able to take care of the sick, who
had always been dear to her. Her sojourn
amongst them was protracted far beyond her
expectations ; the direction of the establishment
was intrusted to her, and six years went by.

At the end of the fourth year another great
sorrow came upon her. The bitterness of her
desolation drove her one evening, when all were
at rest, to pour out her heart at the feet of her
good Master; the chapel door was shut, but
she knelt outside. She had long had a great
devotion to our Saviour's Agony on the Mount
of Olives, she had also been in the habit of
repeating the prayer to His Agonising Heart,
but her devotion to It did not go any further.
While she was praying, she promised almost
involuntarily to do three things if her trouble
was removed. She engaged herself anew to
take a vow of evangelical poverty as soon as
possible ; to perform the exercise of the Hour
Sanctified each Thursday night; and to use all
her influence to have a chapel built in honour

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of the Agonising Heart of Jesus. This under-
taking seemed little likely to be successful A
great outlay had been made in the hospital
before the death of its Foundress, and it was
still in debt to a considerable amount, besides
which there were a hundred poor people to be
supported. And its resources consisted merely
in what Providence might please to send
through the hands of charitable people. Never-
theless, in a few days the favour which she had
asked was granted, and at the end of a year
the debt was nearly paid. But how was the
chapel to be built? At the beginning of the
month of March the sick were invited to pray,
that by St. Joseph's intercession the means for
the erection of this sanctuary might be provided.
By the end of the month, more than ten
thousand francs had been given, and the Arch-
bishop allowed the works to begin. Providence
furnished the necessary funds, which exceeded
one hundred thousand francs. Early in 1859
His Eminence Cardinal Bonald dedicated it to
the Agonising Heart.

A little later in the same year, one day just
after the Elevation at Mass, the sudden thought

darted through Mdme. 's mind : " There is

an Association in honour of the Agonising
Heart of Jesus, why is there not also a Religious
Order devoted to Its honour and to the salva-
tion of the dying." It was more than a mere
light or direction; it was an impulse which

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150 THE AGONISING HEART.

urged her irresistibly forward. It took posses-
sion of the pious widow. In vain did she try to
treat it as a mere delusion of the imagination,
it came back and back again to her mind, and
she felt she must write to the Founder of the
Association.

Mdme. had seen Father Lyonnard only

once, at Chambery, at the College of the
Society of Jesus, where he was Professor of the
class which precedes the rhetorical one, and
one of her sons was his pupil. But she was
quite unacquainted with him, and had not even
noticed his name or appearance. About a year
before, on hearing from another member of the
Society that the first chapel in honour of the
Agonising Heart was about to be built at
Lyons, he had written to congratulate her on
her good work, and to beg her to take advantage
of the opportunity to establish the Confraternity
there. She had answered this letter courteously,
but had told him plainly that it was impossible
to fulfil his desire, as the position of the chapel
was not central, and so many other Confrater-
nities already occupied the ground that even
the Fathers of the Society thought the Confra-
ternity of the Agonising Heart would have little
or no chance of success. -She felt some diffi-
dence in writing again to the same person to
propose the foundation of a Community under
the same title, and with the same object.

But even if her project should be looked

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upon as the offspring of an excited imagination
what harm would be done ? It would merely
be a humiliation, and is not a humiliation a
gain to a Christian soul ? She therefore wrote
to Father Lyonnard, modestly telling him her
idea. Her object was simply to obey what she
believed to be an inspiration of grace, and
when she had sent her letter her heart felt
lighter; she had no personal feeling in the
matter, and it did not dwell on her mind. In a
fortnight Father Lyonnard replied, telling her
that she was not the first person who had
thought of such a foundation, and begging her
to write more fully to him on the subject. She
was much struck by his answer, and began to
see that God might be about to ask of her a
great sacrifice. When she wrote to Father
Lyonnard, she begged him to pray that God
would make His will known to her.

It was necessary to come to a decision ; her
term of office as Superioress was nearly at an
end, and it was possible that she might not be
re-elected. It would cost her much to leave the
sick, whom she loved with the heart of a
mother; to go far from her own dear children,
and into a climate which she knew was un-
favourable to her health. But when God asks
a sacrifice from us, though He may allow us to
weigh and measure its depth and its extent, He
does not allow us to hesitate. The sacrifice
was one which she had not foreseen, and she

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152 THE AGONISING HEART.

almost shrank from it. Her wish had been
to obey, to join herself to some other person
who would become the Foundress of the new
Congregation ; she had not supposed that she
would have to rule and to take upon herself all
the apparent responsibility. If she could have
foreseen all this, she would never have made
the first step. A worthy follower of St. Ignatius,
whom she consulted, told her that it was not
fitting that a creature, by want of generosity,
should oppose the designs of God, and that by
the endeavour to avoid one responsibility, she
would incur a far greater one. She bowed her
head, and submitted to her cross without inves-
tigating the nature of it.

CHAPTER III.

EXECUTION OF THE PROJECT.

The first vocation. Departure for Mende. Token of
the divine pleasure by a miraculous cure. Opening of
the Novitiate. Death of the first Choir Sister. The
Foundress and two Sisters take their vows. Paternal
care of Providence. The House at Lyons.

Mgr. Foulquier, Bishop of Mende, had given
permission for the new Foundation to be made
in his episcopal city, where Father Lyonnard
was then living. He had also written a most
kind and encouraging letter in answer to one
which the pious widow had addressed to him.

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But how could Mdme. set off alone to

found a Community? To say nothing of the
Lay Sisters, at least one Choir Sister was-
needed to make a beginning ; how could such a
one be found without letting the secret get
abroad? Providence again interposed. A young

lady, Louisa , wished to devote herself to

the Religious life, and was at this moment
making a Retreat with the Benedictines before
deciding what Order she would enter ; the last
day found her still uncertain, and she wished to
consult her Director. He was the very Religious
who had encouraged the Foundress to perse-
vere, and had said to her : "I know a young
lady who might perhaps join you. She is at
present making a Retreat. I will pray the
Agonising Heart of Jesus that if such be His
will for her He will send her to me to-morrow."
She came, and as she often said since, the
proposition made by her Director was like a
bright star, pointing out to her the will of God ;
from that moment her uncertainties and hesita-
tions ceased. On the 14th of September, 1859,
Louisa and a Lay Sister joined the Found-
ress at a place she had appointed — it was the
celebrated Sanctuary of Fourvieres, the first
three Nuns of the Agonising Heart of Jesus
wished to meet at Mary's feet. The 15 th of
October, St. Teresa's Feast, was fixed for their
final departure. In the morning they had the
happiness of hearing the Holy Mass, and of

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154 THE AGONISING HEART.

receiving Communion together; and in the
evening they were at Puy, a town which Mary
loves.

We do not attempt to describe the grief of

Mdme. 's children. On both sides there is

a wound which can never be closed, and which
we cannot venture to touch. The poor mother
was strengthened to bear nature's weakness by
the hope that our Lord would render to them
what she was doing for His sake. Her desire
to ensure and to increase their eternal happi-
ness made the temporal separation less bitter;
and they have since done all that in them lay to
bring their mother's Community nearer their
home.

The Sunday was spent at Puy, that the pro-
jected work might be placed anew under the
protection of the Blessed Virgin, who was
already acknowledged as the Superior of the
Order. On the 17th, in the evening, the
travellers arrived at Mende. Everything con-
nected with the foundation had been kept
perfectly quiet, and until the day when the ♦
Blessed Sacrament was exposed in the chapel,
and the Bishop himself spoke of it, nothing was
known by the outer world. All the proceed-
ings were marked by Christian prudence, and
even before coming to any decision, Father
Lyonnard had begged that God would work a
miraculous cure as a token of His good pleasure.
Augustine , the subject of this cure, led a

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155

holy life, but for ten years her health had been
seriously impaired. The spine seemed to be
affected, her stomach was only able to bear very
little food, for a year she had been unable even
to eat bread, and her weakness was extreme.
Most of her time was spent on her bed, or in
an arm-chair, and in order to make the effort of
getting across the room, or to a chapel close at
hand for Communion, she required help, and it
generally caused her an increase of suffering.
In the month of July, 1859, Augustine heard of
the proposed foundation, and felt the import-
ance and interest of its object. She was urged
to ask for restoration to health by the inter-
cession of St. Ignatius, but she refused. It was
not till the month of September that, fearing lest
she was not conforming to the will of God, she
made up her mind to join a novena in honour
of the compassionate Heart of Mary. It was
begun on the Feast of the Seven Dolours of
our Lady, and was offered to obtain her
recovery, if such was the will of God. She said
the Stabat Mater and the invocation to the
Agonising Heart daily for this intention. But
she feared recovery almost as much as she
desired it, for she had a strong presentiment of
the sacrifices which God would require of her if

He restored her to health. Mdme. was

invited to join in these prayers, and the cure
was asked from our Lord as a sign of His
intending the establishment of the new Congre-

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156 THE AGONISING HEART.

gation. The pious Foundress went to the
Sanctuary at Fourvieres, prayed, and had Mass
said there.

Some days afterwards a letter informed her
that God had granted the desired favour. The
sick person had suffered unusually during the
novena, on the last day, however, she had been
brought into the Church. While Mass was
going on, she felt a sort of agitation through
her whole body, and she required assistance in
going up to the altar. But after receiving Com-
munion, she rose and went back alone to her
place, and returned home without any support,
to the great surprise of her whole family. In
the afternoon she was able to walk without any
assistance to the parish church, which stands in
the high part of the town, and is difficult of
access. No traces of her former sufferings
remained save a slight weakness. A few days
later Augustine went to Mende, and in the
middle of October, within a month after her
recovery, she was the first to welcome the future
Nuns of the Agonising Heart on their arrival.

Two devout ladies had consented to let their
house to the infant Community, and by their
kind care a provisional chapel had been pre-
pared. The person who had been miraculously
cured assisted them in their preparations ; she
was able to mount a ladder, and hang curtains,
to go downstairs, and remain a long time on
her knees, with as much ease as if she had

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157

never been ill. Six months afterwards her
family sent a doctor, under whose care she had
been, to see her, and he was thunderstruck to
find her so completely restored.

It was a great happiness to Mdme. and

the two Sisters who accompanied her from
Lyons, to find an altar and a tabernacle in their
new abode; to live under the same roof as
our Lord, is living under paternal protection,
for is it not being close to One Who is Father,
Brother, Husband, and Mother? Their good
Master did not indeed as yet inhabit His sanc-
tuary, but they were soon to have the blessing
of His presence. The day after his arrival, the
Bishop of Mende received the Foundress and
the Choir Sister with very great kindness, and
willingly granted their first request. He promised
to celebrate Mass in the new chapel on the
following day, Octobei the 19th, the Feast of
St. Peter of Alcantara, and he gave them
permission to have the Adorable Sacrament
always there, on condition that they should
keep their Divine Guest company, never leaving
the house except to go to confession. The holy
Bishop gave an address at Mass, taking for his
text the words : " Blessed are they that come in
the name of the Lord!" Some Priests and some
other persons were present. The abridged
formulary of the Institute, which we shall give
in the next chapter, was then read, the Bishop
declared the Postulate opened, and foretold
o

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158 THE AGONISING HEART.

that this grain of mustard-seed would become a
great tree.

In a few weeks the proprietors left the house,
and the Postulants were left alone there, and
began to make all the arrangements necessary
for a cloistered Community. Bad weather
delayed the completion of the work until the
end of Lent. On the 26th of March, on which
day the Feast of the Annunciation was cele-
brated in i860, the Bishop blessed the chapel
and placed the Blessed Sacrament there. Three
days later, on the Feast of the Compassion of
our Lady, he gave the Religious dress to the
Foundress, to the Choir Sister who had come
with her, to Augustine, and to two Lay Sisters.
His Lordship then blessed the House, declared
the Community cloistered, and opened the
Novitiate.

Louisa, the Choir Sister, who had come from
Lyons to begin the work, died on the 9th of
August, 1 86 1, after three days' illness. Her
fervour, her devotion to the cause, and her
talent for music, made her loss very deeply felt.
The Novice met death with the greatest calm-
ness and resignation, and fell asleep peacefully
in the Lord. Her mortal remains were laid out
in the choir in her Religious dress, the curtains
of the grating were opened, and many came to
pray for the departed soul. The funeral was
performed with the simplicity suited to her state
of Religious humility. A large number of the

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Faithful came to honour this wise virgin, who
had sacrificed herself for the sake of the dying.
One of the Vicars-General and the Parish Priest
also assisted, and a neighbouring Community
sent sixteen young girls to carry the poor
stranger to her grave.

On the 30th of March, 1862, the Feast of
our Lady of Compassion, the venerable Bishop
received the perpetual vows of the Foundress
and of a Choir Sister, the subject of the miracle,
as well as the first vows of a Lay Sister.

We cannot detail the many different ways in
*which the paternal care of Providence has
supplied the wants of this little family. One
instance must suffice. In i860 the Community
dedicated the month of March to St. Joseph,
praying this kind protector of Religious Houses
to give them the means of defraying the
expenses incurred by the arrangement of the
chapel and other indispensable works. At the
•end of the month, a person who was about to
devote herself to God at La Trappe of Montd-
limar, came to the aid of the poor Community.
The Agonising Heart of Jesus had granted her
father the grace of a holy death, and she wished
to show her gratitude by assisting those Reli-
gious who had chosen It as their special object
of worship. Ever since a little lamp has been
burning every Wednesday before the statue of
St. Joseph. His protection has been unfailing.
This humble Community, with no resources

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save the bounty of Providence and the dowries
of some Sisters, lives and prospers under the
care of our Heavenly Father, Who clothes the
lilies of the field and feeds the birds of the air.

Early in the year 1865, a small band of the
Nuns being left at Mende to guard the cradle of
their Congregations, the others took up their
abode in a place situated on the outskirts of
La Guillotiere and of Lyons. They reached
Lyons on the 22nd of February. The next day
they went to Fourvieres, to commend their new
House to the maternal care of our Lady, and
on the 24th their Lord and Master came to
dwell among them in a temporary chapel. The
large and beautiful enclosure surrounding the
convent, the calm and solitude of the .situation,
and the salubrity of the air, make cloistered life
more easy to those whose health is delicate.
The permanent chapel was blessed on the 22nd
of December, 1865. It is simple, and well
fitted for devotion. The choir is calculated for
at least thirty Religious, and the nave is open
to the Faithful.

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CHAPTER IV.

ABRIDGED FORMULARY OF THE INSTITUTE.

Object, vows, cloistering, prayer, mortification, work,
dowry, auxiliaries, spirit, devotion. Apostolic object
often set before the Religious. Prayers for the direction
of the intention. This Community meets present needs.
It will maintain the Devotion and the Confraternity.

We give the Rule of the new Institute, which
was read publicly in the presence of the Bishop
of Mende, at the opening of the Postulation on
the 19th of October, 1859 : —

CONTEMPLATIVE CONGREGATION OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN,
UNDER THE TITLE OF THE AGONISING HEART OF
JESUS.

I. Their object is, by a life of prayer and daily self-
sacrifice in honour of, and in union with, the Sacred
Heart of Jesus Agonising in the Garden of Olives, to
promote the salvation of those who die each day. The
number of those who die each day is above 80,000 !
How many of them need that holy souls should offer
themselves voluntarily to God as victims for their
salvation ?

II. After two years' Novitiate they take the three per-
petual Religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience,
adding one peculiar to the new Congregation, viz., to
offer themselves daily to God as victims for those who die
each day. Without making any vow on the subject, the
Religious of the Agonising Heart will pray much for the
Church and for the Sovereign Pontiff.

III. The Order will be cloistered, all relations with
the external world being strictly forbidden, but the Reli-
gious may go from one Monastery to another when the
Superior-General sees fit to send them. The general

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administration will be in common, and there will be a.
common Novitiate, from which the Novices will be sent
to different Communities.

IV. Their principal occupation will be mental and
vocal prayer, and reciting the Psalms of the daily-
services. If the number of Religious be sufficient, there
will be constant intercession for those who die each day,
every Religious taking her turn, for a given time, in
presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

V. They will add mortification to prayer, not with all
the austerity of the Carmelites, but with a moderation
which may suit constitutions of no great vigour, while, at
the same time, it satisfies the requirements of a life of
immolation. Spiritual mortification will be largely prac-
tised, by means of exercises of humiliation, public con-
fession of breaches of rule, &c.

VI. In the hours devoted to manual work, a preference
will be given to such occupations as making or repairing
vestments and altar linen, &c, especially for the benefit
of poor churches, according to the means of the Com-
munity.

VII. Only persons of suitable education can be
admitted as Choir Sisters, and, as a general rule, they
must be able to contribute either a dowry, varying in
different places from six to eight thousand francs, or the
annual interest of that sum. Widows can be admitted if
they possess the necessary qualifications.

VIII. Pious persons living in the world will be con-
nected with the Order as Auxiliaries, and will visit and
assist the dying. These Auxiliaries will hold communi-
cation only with the Superior, or some grave Religious
appointed to converse with them. They are not a
necessary element, but merely complemental to the
Community. Nevertheless, as their cooperation may be
very valuable in promoting the glory of God and the
welfare of souls, they should be associated, if possible,
to every House of the Order.

IX. The spirit of the new Congregation is to be, by
the help of God, a happy combination of that of Su

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Teresa and that of St. Ignatius. An ardent desire to
promote God's glory by contributing to the salvation of
souls, especially of the dying, will be joined to a great
love of meditation, of prayer, and of sacrifice.

Devotion to the Sacred Person of our Lord Jesus
Christ, especially to His Agonising Heart, will be one of
the chief characteristics of the new Congregation. The
Religious will seek to please their good Master by
imitating His virtues, more particularly His humility
and gentleness. Their motto will be His words —
"Learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of
heart." Discite a Me, qui mitis sum et humilis conic .
(Matt. xi. 29.)

This formulary is explicit, and we will only
add a few reflections as to the very Apostolic
object of the new Institute.

This object is constantly placed before the
Religious. The eleventh of their Common Rules
has these words : — " We are bound to offer to
God for the salvation of the dying, especially
for the dying of every day, the recitation of the
daily Divine Services, the intercession made
from nine to ten in the evening, the prayer,
" O most merciful Jesus," at least once a day,
the Advent fast, the Friday discipline, the
weekly confession, the exercise of the Five
Wounds, and the exercises of reparation. In-
stead of the daily Divine Service, the Lay
Sisters will say two Chaplets and the Office of
our Lady of Seven Dolours every day. Choir
Sisters who, on account of their age or infirmi-
ties, cannot go through the daily Divine Service,
will do the same as the Lay Sisters. On

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THE AGONISING HEART.

Monday all will hear Holy Mass for those who
are to die during the week."

The prayers which every Religious is recom-
mended to use in directing her intention have
the same purpose. We give them for the
reader's edification: —

"Most holy and most merciful Father, I
humbly beseech Thee to accept my intention
of performing this day all the works prescribed
by my vow of sacrifice, for Thy glory and for
the salvation of the dying, especially for those
who are to die this day. Grant me Thy blessing,
and the light and strength and love I need to
fulfil my holy engagements with perfect fidelity,
and to bear my cross courageously till death,
following the example of Jesus, my God, my
King, and rny Captain, to Whom, with Thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, be glory and
love throughout all ages. Amen."

" O my God, I unite my heart and mind to
the intentions which the Sacred Hearts of Jesus
and Mary had during Their mortal lives, in all
that They did and suffered for Thy glory and for
the salvation of souls. I wish to have no other
object in anything but Thy good pleasure and
the fulfilment of Thy holy will. I renounce
every other intention. I offer to Thee, in order
to obtain the grace of conversion for all the
sinners who are to die to-day, the prayers,
merits, and sufferings of the Agonising Heart
of Jesus and of the compassionate Heart of

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Mary, and also the prayers, sufferings, and
merits of all the just, both living and dead,
especially of the members of our little Congre-
gation, and all the supplications which will be
offered Thee to-day in the name of our holy
Mother the Church. For this intention I unite
myself to the Holy Sacrifices to be offered
to-day in all churches throughout the world,
and I offer Thee the Holy Victim in union with
all Priests who are to offer It to Thee to-day.
Amen."

It will be seen that the new Institute is in
harmony with the present needs of the Church,
and that it also harmonises with the vocation of
many souls for a contemplative life. Those
who have not physical strength for all the
severities of the cloister, and are nevertheless
called to this holy state, will find everything
they want among the Religious of the Agonising
Heart of Jesus, and will also be able to follow
the Apostolic, impulse, which exerts so great an
influence over so many souls in the present
day, and sweetens sacrifice by showing its fruit.
Every House of the new Order will be like a
focus of charity, whence rays of zeal for the
salvation of the dying will be always diverging.

The Devotion and the Confraternity of the
Agonising Heart will also be guarded, perpetu-
ated, and more widely disseminated. Experience
shows us that, too often, a lapse of time brings
weakness or even complete extinction to the

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1 66 THE AGONISING HEART.

most approved Devotions and Confraternities.
But when the Rule of the Agonising Heart is
established in several monasteries, its con-
tinuance will be guaranteed far more strongly
than that of a simple Association of Christians
could possibly be. Now, as one part of its
spirit and object is to promote the Devotion
to the Agonising Heart of Jesus, and to estab-
lish Confraternities in the different churches of
the Community, they will last as long as the
Order lasts. And, on the other hand, .Confra-
ternities will help the Order, as it will certainly
be recruited from among their members. In
this way charity to the dying will spread more
and more widely, supplications and sacrifices
will be multiplied for the greater glory of God
and the eternal happiness of men.

CHAPTER V.

THE VOW OF IMMOLATION.

Its obligations. Offering of life. God has often accepted
this kind of offering. Value of this vow. Resemblance
which it produces between Jesus Christ and the Reli-
gious. Its power for good.

A peculiarity of the new Institution is the
vow of immolation by which the Religious offer
themselves as a sacrifice to God the Father, in
union with the Agonising Heart of Jesus, for

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167

the salvation of the dying. It binds the person
who pronounces it to the daily offering of her
life, a daily quarter of an hour's intercession, the
Hour Sanctified in the night between Thursday
and Friday, and a weekly fast.

The offering or oblation of life must be
sincere ; and must be made in words, unless
in case of illness. It is enough to say, " My
God, I offer Thee my life for the dying;" but
the Nuns are accustomed to use the following
form : " Almighty and Eternal God, although
I am quite unworthy to appear before Thee, yet
trusting in Thine infinite goodness, I humbly
offer myself as a victim to Thy Divine Majesty,
in honour of, and in union with, the Agonising
Heart of Thy dear Son Jesus. Dispose of my
life, my prayers, and my sufferings, as Thou
seest fit, for the salvation of the dying, especially
for those who are to die this day. Amen."

God has often accepted the offering of one
person's life for that of another. In Commu-
nities it has often happened that one Religious
has offered to die that another might recover,
and God has granted his desire; the first has
died at once, contrary to the expectation of all,
and the other has been restored to perfect
health for many years. People living in the
world have also offered their lives for Monks
and Nuns, and God has accepted the sacrifice.
A daughter has been known to ask as a favour
from God that she might die and that a parent,

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1 68 THE AGONISING HEART.

whose life was necessary to her brothers' and
sisters' welfare, might be spared ; God has con-
sented to the exchange, He has called her to
Himself, and the parent has been left to watch
over the young children. Must not the offering
which the Religious of the Agonising Heart
make every day, be always pleasing to our
Lord, and be sometimes accepted by Him?
It is made not merely to save others from
temporal death, but from the fearful misery of
eternal death, from the loss of both body and
soul in hell. Each morning .they say, with an
earnest desire to be heard: "O Lord, I trust
that I shall live and die in Thy favour; but
Thou knowest some who are in danger of dying
in sin, perhaps even this very day, unless Thou
dost grant them some special grace. I offer to
Thee, in order to gain the efficacious grace of
conversion for a sinner, the greatest sacrifice I
can offer — that of my life. Let my body die,
and save this soul !"

By making the vows of poverty, chastity, and
obedience, a person gives something real to
God; he binds himself to give effect to this
poverty, chastity, and obedience. The immo-
lation we speak of is not merely a simple wish
of self-sacrifice, but by their vow the Nuns
commit themselves entirely to God, that He
may take their lives that very moment if He
sees fit to do so. Is not this devotedness
equivalent to the act of generosity made by a

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THE COMMUNITY. 1 69

person who offers to die the sooner in order to
save the life of another? If anything could
be added to the value of this devotedness by
making a selection of the individual in whose
favour it is made, the Nuns could choose from
among the dying who have been specially com-
mended to them, or from some class or con-
dition which particularly interests them. Why
should they not do for the dying, what we do
for the departed ? We do not content ourselves
with praying or making some sacrifice for the
holy souls in Purgatory in general, but we desire
to assist the one most destitute of help, the one
nearest to or furthest from Heaven, the one
who was most distinguished by a certain virtue
or most devoted to some special object. In
making or renewing the vow of immolation,
might not the Nuns vary their intention, and,
while they offer it for the dying in general,
apply it particularly to some sinner for whom
charity urges them to endeavour to turn the
scale?

It may be said that our Saviour Himself
made a vow of immolation. When He came
into the world He offered Himself to die for
sinners, and He renewed this offering in the
Garden of Olives. On the morrow God accepted
it, and He died on Calvary to save us all When
Nuns of the Agonising Heart enter the Commu-
nity, they have made up their minds to die for
the eternal salvation of sinners, they make a
p

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THE AGONISING HEART.

vow of immolation when they enter the long
and painful agony of cloister life, and they often
renew this vow. Who knows when the morrow
may come for them? The morrow of the
Passion, of Calvary, of suffering and ignominy,
of death for the salvation of dying sinners.
That morrow is known to none save God alone;
but surely, in His foreknowledge and His pro-
vidence, He has determined the days or months
or years by which He will shorten the life of
each Nun in consequence of her vow, or, at
least, the increase of anguish and bitterness, of
pain and agony, which He will portion out to
her throughout her whole life, to enable her
to carry into execution her heroic purpose of
charity.

What is the work of Jesus each morning on
the altar ? He sacrifices Himself ; but it is by
a moral sacrifice, since, as St. Paul tells us,
"Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now
no more " (Rom. vi. 9). Yet this mystical death
avails to unite the Sacrifice of the Altar to the
Sacrifice of the Cross, and brings down on the
world inestimable graces. The Nuns of the
Agonising Heart begin at the altar and end at
the Cross. They sacrifice themselves morally
with Jesus on the altar; they die mystically,
longing with all the fervour of their love to die
really with Jesus on the Cross, even by a cruel
death, if so be God would accept their sacrifice
for a greater number of dying sinners. The

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Mount of Olives lies between Mount Sion,
where Jesus sacrificed Himself mystically by the
institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, and the
Hill of Golgotha, where He sacrificed Himself'
really by an agonising death. The Nuns of the
Agonising Heart of Jesus begin by leaving the
guest-chamber, the altar where they received
their vocation, and where they constantly revive
their fervour. Every Religious Community is
like a garden; but theirs is the Garden of
Olives, whence their prayers and sufferings,
their austerities and agonies, bring the oil of
grace to the dying. By-and-bye, it may be,
they will go and die on Calvary, offering them-
selves up to the Divine Justice that the guilty
may bfc spared. Can anything have more power
with God to gain irresistible grace for hardened
sinners, than the cry of these generous souls
who offer themselves up every day to the most
cruel death — a cry which rises every morning
from a whole Commuuity, calling for vengeance
to fall, not on others, but on themselves ; a cry
which is the voice of the Spouses of Christ,
kneeling before the altar to receive His precious
Body, and uniting their prayer to His Prayer,
their agony to His Agony !

This complete sacrifice of a whole Congre-
gation, made every day in union with that of
Jesus, is one of the most efficacious means of
stemming the torrent of impiety which threatens
us. An age of selfishness can only be saved by

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THE AGONISING HEART.

the spirit of sacrifice ; an age of dissipation and
carelessness by the spirit of meditation and
prayer. The Nuns of the Agonising Heart
unite self-sacrifice * with separation from the
world, and their vow of immolation renewed
every day fonns in them the habit of that
perfect love of which our Saviour speaks —
"This is My commandment, that you love
one another, as I have loved you. Greater love
than this no man hath, that a man lay down
his life for his friends" (John xv. 12, 13). The
Faithful know this, they reckon on the charity
of these fervent Nuns, they eagerly recommend
to them the dying whom they love. They say
to them : " Oh, you who are bound by a vow
to immolate yourselves for the souls of the
dying, offer yourselves for my father, or my
mother, for my son, my brother, or husband;
for this soul, near and dear to me, which is
soon to appear before the Sovereign Judge. If
my prayer is joined to your sacrifice, it will
surely obtain mercy and pardon."

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CHAPTER VI.

THE CONSTITUTIONS.

Object of the vocation. Spirit of the Institute. Cloistering.
Postulate. First Novitiate. Second Novitiate. Form
of Profession. Question of conscience.

The object of the vocation of these Nuns is, in
the first place, to pay a special worship of
adoration and love, compassion and reparation,
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, suffering for our
salvation throughout the whole course of His
mortal life, but above all in the Garden of
Olives ; and secondly, to offer themselves each
day as a victim to God the Father, in union
with the Agonising Heart of His Divine Son,
to obtain by daily prayer and sacrifice the effica-
cious grace of a good death for all who are
dying throughout the whole world.

We quote some words addressed to the Nuns
by their wise Founder, with a view of making
known the spirit of the new Institute: "Be
thoroughly persuaded that if you would render
to the Heart of Jesus the homage that He asks
of you, you must make no reservations in your
sacrifice — His sacrifice of Himself for you was
made without any — devotedness can be repaid
only by devotion. Give yourselves entirely to
Jesus Christ, for He has condescended to give
Himself entirely to you. And as Jesus Christ
had to suffer to redeem mankind, make up your

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174 THE AGONISING HEART.

minds that in order to attain the end of your
vocation — that is, the salvation of the dying —
it is necessary for you to be united by prayer
and sacrifice with Jesus, the great Mediator and
Victim. And as one of the motives which led
you to enter the Congregation was to repair the
outrages and the ingratitude by which men,
especially the dying, have wounded the Ago-
nising Heart of Jesus, let your whole life be a
prayer, a holocaust, a constant and honourable
reparation offered to that Divine Heart to
obtain mercy for them. Have constantly before
your mind the remembrance of Him Who,
being God, humbled Himself for the love of us,
so as to become Man and to die a Victim for
our sins. Let your constant study be, with the
aid of His grace, to imitate His virtues, espe-
cially His gentleness and His humility."

The Institutes of the Order forbid the Nuns
to take any part in active life, or even to go
into the town. They are allowed to look after
the chapel at those hours when it is closed to
the public. There are double gratings in the
choir and the parlour, with a curtain inside.
This is opened in the parlour, as in the Monas-
teries of the Visitation, and in the choir for the
ceremonies, and is so arranged that the taber-
nacle can always be seen. No one can enter
the cloistered part unless for very important
reasons, and with the Bishop's permission. No
relation or friend, not even a father or mother,

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can be allowed to come into the monastery to
visit a sick or dying Sister, whether she be a
Professed Nun, a Novice, or a Postulant. Nor
can the Nuns leave their Houses for the recovery
of their health.

Before a Postulant is admitted into the
interior of the monastery she generally makes a
Retreat of three or four days in a place reserved
for the purpose. The usual length of the Postu-
late is three months for Choir Sisters, if they
are under forty years of age, and five months if
they are older; and for Lay Sisters eight
months. The Postulants observe the same Rule
as the Novices, and live in the same part of the
monastery, but in separate cells or dormitories.

Postulants about to be admitted to the Novi-
tiate prepare for the solemn ceremony of taking
the Religious dress by a Retreat of some days.
During the Novitiate, they are instructed in the
Institutes, Rules, and Customs of the Order, that
they may practise them faithfully. They go
through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius
for a month, the first half a short time before
they take the Religious dress, and the second
before they become Professed Nuns.

After a Novitiate of two full years from the
time of taking the Religious dress, the Novices,
both the Lay and the Choir Sisters, who are
approved by their Superiors, become Professed
Nuns. The Choir Sisters make perpetual vows
of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and a

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THE AGONISING HEART.

temporary vow for eight years of sacrificing
themselves to the dying. The Lay Sisters make
temporary vows of poverty, chastity, obedience,
and sacrifice for one year; after which, if they
prove worthy, they are allowed to make per-
petual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience,
and a temporary vow of sacrifice for eight years.
After their Profession, the Novices remain under
the direction of the Mistress, the Choir Sisters for
five years, and the Lay Sisters for one. They
keep the Novices' Rule, with some modifications,
and are called Novices of the black veil. At
the end of the second Novitiate, they are
admitted into the number of the Professed, and
observe their Rule. Choir Sisters do not take
the title of Mother till after they have taken the
vow of perpetual immolation.

We give the form of Profession : — " I, Sister
Mary N., although most unworthy to appear
before God, yet trusting in His infinite good-
ness, and desirous to honour the Agonising
Heart of Jesus in the sufferings of His mortal
life, especially in His Agony in the Garden of
Olives, make my Profession in this Religious
Congregation established in His honour, and in
it consecrate myself to God and to the Agonis-
ing Heart of His Divine Son Jesus, in the sight
of His glorious Mother, the Immaculate Virgin
Mary, of all the company of Heaven, and all
here present, by these perpetual vows of poverty,
chastity, and obedience, and by the temporary

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vow of immolation for the salvation of those
who die each day, in conformity with the Insti-
tutes and Rules of the said Congregation. I
bind myself, according to the same Institute, to
the strict observance of being cloistered, and I
promise to honour the compassionate Heart of
Mary, to pray often for the Sovereign Pontiff,
for the Church, for the conversion of heretics,
and for my Sisters in this Order. Amen."

In reading these Institutes we cannot fail to
observe in every page the traces of a mind
experienced in the Priesthood and in Religious
life, and well acquainted with Communities of
women, and the abuses which may arise in
them. We will merely draw attention to one
most important point, to what is called the
report of the conscience.

The Saints have always looked on this as
one of the most important means of advancing
in virtue, and of maintaining a family spirit in
Communities. On the part of the inferior it
implies simplicity, humility, and confidence; on
the part of the superior, charity, prudence, dis-
cretion, and often an amount of knowledge
greater than that required by a Confessor. How
many Priests would, be unable to give adequate
direction to some of those whose confessions
they hear ! How then should a woman, without
the study of dogmatic or moral theology, with-
out the knowledge requisite for a Confessor,
have light sufficient to direct a soul in matters

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178 THE AGONISING HEART.

which are most delicate. Therefore the Church,
while giving an unreserved sanction to the
report of conscience in all cases where the
Religious Superior is a Priest, imposes certain
restrictions where that office is filled by a
woman. The Roman Court has often declared
that under such circumstances the report of
conscience is confined to public breaches of the
Rule, and to progress in all the virtues : " Mani-
festatio conscientiae restringitur quoad publicas
transgressiones regulae, et ad progressum in
virtutibus."

What is laid down by the Institutes of the
Agonising Heart ? " The spirit of the Church,
as regards the report of conscience, is that you
should act with entire liberty, and without
constraint, merely telling the faults you have
committed against the Rule, and your progress
in all the virtues, reserving all other matters for
the ear of your Confessor or Director. The
matter of the report of conscience commonly
made to the Mother Superior consists of those
things which it is necessary for her to know, in
order to be able to direct you in the faithful
observance of your Rule, and in your progress
in perfection."

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CHAPTER VII.

A DAY.

The cell. The Religious dress. Act of offering.
Psalmody. Mass. Manual labour. Meals. Recre-
ation. Rosary. Intercession. Homage* to the Dying
Saviour's Agony.

We think many of our readers will like to have
some further details as to the Profession and
daily life of a Nun of the Agonising Heart.

The House which we visited at Mende does
not belong to the Community, but is merely-
rented by the year. It is small and unpre-
tending in appearance, and everything inside
bespeaks an extreme poverty, in accordance
with the lowly beginnings of the work. Order
and cleanliness reign throughout, but it has not
been possible to make all the arrangements
desirable for a Community. The cells are, in
general, very narrow, cold, and low ; their furni-
ture consists of a straw mattress, a chair, a small
table, and a picture. The Nun spends the
night and some hours of the day in her cell.
She rises at five o'clock, and begins her hour of
mental prayer at half-past five.

Her dress may be thus described: — A full
brown gown, with wide, long sleeves, a girdle
of red cord with knots, one end of which on the
right side reaches the ground, at the left side a
black rosary of large beads, with a large cross

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l8o THE AGONISING HEART.

and medal of the Agonising Heart. Above the
dress a large long white scapulary bound with
red. It is white in honour of our Lady of Seven
Dolours, and on the breast is a great red Heart,
surrounded by the crown of thorns, and sur-
mounted by the cross and flames ; on one side
is the lance piercing it, and on the other is
placed the sponge ; beneath are the three
nails, made, like the Heart, out of red cloth.
For the head, white bands and a large black
veil. During the ceremonies in the choir a long
black cloak is worn. The Nun wears a large
crucifix over her heart, but hidden by the scapu-
lary, and on the fourth finger of the right hand
a gold ring, with these words engraved inside —
"Through Mary, Jesus; His Heart and His
Cross." The Lay Sister wears a silver ring,
which does not open and has no motto. The
ring is the symbol of that charity which should
unite the Nun to her Divine Spouse, in spite of
crosses and thorns, of the lance and nails, of
gall and of bitterness. Is she not pledged to
remain faithful to Him in suffering and in
death? This union is often brought before
her mind, and she makes the following offering
of herself every day : —

" O my Creator and Sovereign Master, behold
at Thy Feet a most unworthy victim, who offers
herself most humbly to Thy Divine Majesty, as
a sacrifice of expiation and reparation for the
salvation of poor dying souls. But I am

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burdened with the weight of my own sins — how
can I venture to implore Thy mercy for so
many souls on the brink of eternity ? If I were
alone in my prayer and my attempt at repara-
tion, I should be full of fear, but I have with
me and on my side the Agonising Heart of Thy
most dear Son Jesus. I unite my prayer to His
Prayer in the Garden of Olives, my sacrifice to
His Sacrifice on the Cross. Therefore, in union
with this adorable Victim, I draw near to Thee,
O my God, trusting that in Thine infinite good-
ness Thou wilt condescend to hear me. O my
God, would that I were able, by the help of
Thy grace, after the example and by the
intercession of Thy glorious Apostle St Paul,
'to supply that which is wanting of the
sufferings of Christ/ and, by my sufferings and
my immolation, to take part with Him in His
work of reparation ! Holy Father, let Thine
anger be turned away. Let the voice of the
Blood of Jesus, Thy beloved Son, let the groans
and sighs of His Agonising Heart come before
the Throne of Thine infinite mercy, and obtain
for me, Thy most unworthy servant, and for my
Sisters, abundant sanctifying graces, and for
those who are to die to-day and to-morrow the
gift of pardon and eternal salvation. Amen."

After their mental prayer, the Nuns begin
Divine Service. They sing it also at eleven,
at three, and at six. The Psalms are sung
gravely, and in a monotone — neither slow nor
Q

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THE AGONISING HEART.

hurried — with their united voices and with
much devotion. On Feasts the Service is sung
rather more slowly and solemnly than on other
days. In the presence of the Blessed Sacra-
ment the attitude of the Nuns is that of
profound veneration. The impression con-
veyed to the mind by hearing them is that
they are full of earnestness, and that, in the
ardour of their faith and love, they aspire to
unite their hearts to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
praising His Heavenly Father, with Mary, and
the choirs of Angels and the whole company of
Heaven.

At seven o'clock they hear Holy Mass. Im-
mediately after the Elevation, each one makes
privately, in conformity with their vow of immo-
lation, this offering of her life : " Almighty and
Eternal God, although I am quite unworthy to
appear before Thee, yet trusting in Thine
infinite goodness, I most humbly offer myself as
a victim to Thy Divine Majesty, in honour of,
and in union with, the Agonising Heart of Thy
beloved Son Jesus. Be pleased to dispose of
my life, of my prayers, and my sufferings,
according to Thy good pleasure, for the salva-
tion of the dying, especially of those who are to
die this day. Amen."

On Friday, this offering is made aloud, and
in common. The Nuns thus participate in
one of the principal acts of their Agonising
Saviour — the oblation of His life to God His

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THE COMMUNITY. 1 83

Father, and His acceptance of suffering and of
death.

At a quarter past eight, at ten, at a quarter to
two, and at half-past three, the Nuns occupy
themselves in manual work, either in the Com-
munity-room or in their cells. The Choir Sisters
do needlework and the necessary work of the
house. They also undertake work for people
living in the world, but not of a kind that
merely ministers to vanity. Their chosen occu-
pations are those which minister to the worship
of God, such as making flowers, vestments, and
linen for churches, and altar-bread.

Dinner is at noon, and supper at seven o'clock.
Their diet is that of the middling classes of
society, except in cases of illness ; it is the same
for all. Their Rule allows the use of meat, at
dinner only, on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and
Thursday, at the other meals on these days
they practise abstinence, as well as at all meals
on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. They
do not avail themselves of the dispensations
commonly given in some dioceses in regard to
the Saturday abstinence and certain days in
Lent. Besides the weekly fast, which they
make on Saturday, they fast every week-day
during Advent, except the Feast of the Imma-
culate Conception.

There is recreation for an hour after dinner,
and for three quarters of an hour after supper.
The first Friday in each month, all Fridays in

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184 THE AGONISING HEART.

Lent, and the vigils of certain Feasts, are spent in
silence. On other days their recreation time is
spent together, and in the same place ; all the
Sisters are bound to be present, and about the
middle there is a moment of silence, during
which all place themselves in the presence of
God, and in union with Him. The recreation
is marked by gaiety and cheerfulness, and they
generally employ themselves in some light work
An amiable simplicity which generally dis-
tinguishes these Sisters tends to give a pleasing
tone of domestic life.

At half-past one they go to the chapel and
say the Rosary together; on Friday it is the
Rosary of the Seven Dolours. This Rosary was
first adopted by the seven holy Founders of the
Order of Servants of Mary. It has seven
divisions, each consisting of a Pater noster and
seven Ave Marias, and three Ave Marias are
said at the end. The Sovereign Pontiff has
attached numerous indulgences to its recitation.

At half-past two all the Nuns meet together
before the Blessed Sacrament, to make half an
hour's intercession for the dying of the day, and
especially for those who are dying at that very
time. When the Community is sufficiently
numerous, this intercession is kept up all
through the day, each Sister taking half an hour
in turn.

At three o'clock the bell rings, and all pros-
trate themselves in honour of the Agony of

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Jesus dying on Calvary. They remain prostrate
as long as the bell continues to ring ; then, with
their arms stretched out in the form of a cross,
they say the prayer, " O most merciful Jesus,"
&c. On Friday, before this prayer, they repeat
the words of our Lord upon the Cross. In
certain churches a pious custom, handed down
to us from ages of faith, still exists : a bell,
called the Agony bell, is rung in honour of the
dying Saviour. At Angouleme, and some other
cathedrals, the great bell tolls seven strokes on
Friday. Would not the general restoration of
this custom be an excellent protest against the
blasphemies which in the present day are uttered
against the divinity of our Saviour ? At least it
would be a homage of reparation. In a Brief,
Ad passionis, dated the 23rd of September,
1740, Benedict XIV. expressed his desire that
all the Faithful should kneel down on Friday
about three o'clock in the afternoon, and say
five Paters and five Aves, in honour of the
Agony and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ
He granted for every time this should be done,
an indulgence of one hundred days, which
was afterwards confirmed by Gregory XVI. in
a Decree of the 24th of September, 1838.

At a quarter past nine the Nuns go to bed,
but two or three of them continue till ten
o'clock in prayer for those who are to die
during the night; each one takes her turn in this
intercession. All perform the Devotion of the

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THE AGONISING HEART.

Holy Hour, from eleven o'clock till midnight
on Thursday night, but their hours are then
altered, so as to give the same amount of
sleep.

CHAPTER VIII.

A PROFESSION.

•St. Agnes model of all virgins who consecrate themselves
to the Lord. Preface sung by the Celebrant Words
sung by the virgins. Special observance at the Pro-
fession in honour of the Agony of our Lord. Pecu-
liarities in the ceremony of giving the Religious dress.

The Profession of the Sisters of the Agonising
Heart takes place during Mass, and is made
with all the ceremonies prescribed in the Service
of the Roman Pontifical for the benediction and
consecration of virgins.

One touching peculiarity is that the words
sung by the Sister on taking the vow are those
pronounced by St. Agnes, a martyr to virginity
and to faith, who was put to death at the age of
thirteen, on the 21st of January, 305. The son
of the Governor of Rome wished to marry her,
but she answered him — " Do you think that I
can ever forsake my Bridegroom, to Whom I
am so closely united that my soul lives only by
His love, nor that you have any merit to enable
you to appear as His rival? For He is possessed
of six qualities, which make Him beyond all
others worthy of love ; He is noble, beautiful,

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THE COMMUNITY. 1 8 7

wise, rich, good, and powerful If you would
know Who He is, He has for His Father, God,
Who begot Him without any mother, and the
Mother who brought Him forth into the world
was ever a Virgin. His beauty so far surpasses
the splendour of the sun and moon and all
the stars that it inspires the very company of
Heaven with admiration, and they confess in
silence that, in comparison with Him, they are
but darkness. He is so wise, and has so held
me captive by His love, that I can think of no
other, and now, while I speak of His perfection,,
I am so happy that, although your presence is
horrible to me, yet I am glad to see you, that I
may speak of Him. He is so rich that He has.
given me treasures worth all the Roman Empire,,
and all who serve Him are laden with good
things. What shall I say of His goodness, which
is beyond all measure ? To show it the more,
He has marked me with His Blood. He has
pledged His Word to me that He will never
forsake me. He has taken me for His Spouse,
He has given me beautiful garments and most
precious jewels. He is so powerful that all the
powers of Heaven and earth cannot conquer
Him. The sick are healed by His touch, and
His voice recals the dead to life.

"Therefore I am wholly His; I love Him
more than my soul and my life, and I would
gladly die for Him. Loving Him, I am chaste ;
coming into His presence, I am pure ; embra-

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1 88 THE AGONISING HEART.

cing Him, I am a virgin. Is it likely that I
should leave Him for the hope of any recom-
pense, or for fear of any suffering ? "

The Governor of Rome threatened to have
the innocent child taken to a haunt of infamy.

I fear nothing," said she, " for with me is an
Angel, one of the countless servants of my
Bridegroom; he guards me, and will wonder-
fully defend me. My Jesus, Whom you know
not, surrounds me on all sides like an impreg-
nable wall."

The Governor's brutal threat was executed,
but the virgin was preserved from all stain. She
was thrown into the fire, but the flames did not
touch her, and she exclaimed : " O Almighty
God, worthy of all praise and honour, I laud
and magnify Thy Holy Name. By the virtue of
Thine only Son, Jesus Christ, I have overcome
the violence of tyrants, and passed unharmed
through the abode of impurity. And now, to
add to these wonders, I feel that Thy celestial
Spirit tempers the heat of the fire, and makes
the flame pleasant and the heat agreeable to me,
while my persecutors feel its power. Blessed be
Thy Holy Name, O Lord, for now I see what I
•desired, I enjoy what I hoped for, I possess
Him Whom I loved. Let my heart and tongue,
my soul, and all that is within me bless and
glorify Thee. I am coming to Thee, the true
and eternal God, Who reignest with Thine only
Son Jesus Christ throughout all ages. Amen."

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THE COMMUNITY. 1 89

Agnes was martyred by the sword, and buried
outside the walls. Her parents came constantly
to pray at her grave, and eight days after her
martyrdom she appeared to them in the midst
of a great multitude of Virgins, all clothed in
robes of cloth of gold adorned with precious
stones, and crowned with flowers, pearls, and
diamonds. The glorious and triumphant Saint
had by her side a lamb more white than snow.
She stood still, made her companions stand
before her father and mother, and said to them :
" Dearest parents, do not weep for me as dead,
but rather rejoice with me that I have won a
crown of glory in Heaven, amongst this holy
company; rejoice that I possess Him Whom,
during my earthly life, I loved with all my heart
and soul."

The Church, which, on the 21st of January,
celebrates Agnes' love of virginity, even unto
martyrdom, celebrates also, on the 28th of the
same month, the consoling apparition of the
dear child to her family. Such is the model
which she places before Christian virgins in the
solemn moment of their consecration to the
Lord. She puts the words of Agnes into their
mouths, that her spirit may be in their hearts.
She would say to them: "Be faithful to your
Divine Bridegroom even unto death ; love vir-
ginity more than life ; but also, even in the midst
of the Religious life, where you are always close
to the Lamb of God in the Blessed Sacrament,

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190 THE AGONISING HEART.

honour your father and mother, console them
in a separation which has cost their hearts so
much, and when they come to visit you in your
mystic tomb, appear before them radiant with
joy, full of respect and overflowing with love."
We will not here enter into all the details of
the Service of the Roman Pontifical, but will
merely express our regret that the ceremonial
is not, in some Communities, performed with
greater exactness.

How full of instruction is the Preface which
the Celebrant sings. Virginity is placed above
marriage, because, while despising its pleasure,
it seeks for that union with God of which
marriage is a figure. Virginity should be
accompanied by a prudent modesty, a wise
benignity, a grave sweetness, a chaste liberty,
an ardent love of God, a blameless life which
seeks no praise, purity of soul, filial fear, a habit
of seeking and finding all in the Divine Spouse
•of souls. O Lord, be Thou the honour and joy
of virgins, their consolation in sadness, their
counsel in perplexity, their defence against
injustice, their patience in tribulation, their
riches in poverty, their food in time of dearth,
and their healing in infirmity.

How striking is the sight of all these virgins
prostrated on the ground during the Litanies of
the Saints which precede the Preface. How it
touches a Christian heart to hear them sing the
words of St Agatha, Virgin and Martyr — "I am

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the servant of Christ, and therefore I show my
lowly condition ; " and then those of St Agnes
— " He has set His mark upon my face, that I
may admit no other lover. I am espoused to
Him Whom the Angels serve, and Whose
beauty the sun and moon admire. He has
given me a ring as the pledge of His truth, and
adorned me with a crown as His Spouse. He
has put on me a long robe of gold and a costly
chain. And now I see that which I desired, I
possess what I hoped for; I am united in
Heaven to Him Whom on earth I loved
entirely. I have inhaled the honey and milk
on His lips, and His Blood dyes my cheeks."
Before the end of the ceremony, the Bishop or
the Celebrant pronounces anathema and male-
diction against any one who should make the
Spouses of Christ forsake the banner of chastity
and the service of God.

Every Nun is to be led to the altar by her
god-mothers, who are elderly ladies, and, if
possible, her relations. These god-mothers only
appear at the taking of the Religious dress, and
the first were the ladies who formed the council
of the Association at Mende. During the cere-
monial of Profession, reference is made to the
special vocation of honouring the Agonies of
Jesus, and of praying for the dying. The Lita-
nies of the Agonising are said while the Nuns
about to make their Profession remain bowed
down. Kneeling in the middle of the choir,.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

they chant in a slow voice — " Father, if Thou
wilt, remove this chalice from me, but yet not
my will, but Thine, be done." Then coming
near the grating, and again kneeling, they chant
— "Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do." The Superior silently presents
a great crucifix; they kiss it, and then each
Nun says — "Father, into Thy hands I com-
mend my spirit." At the end * of the Mass
several tapers are lighted around the statue of
Mary, and when the Priest has finished the last
Gospel, one of the Nuns standing close to the
statue, chants slowly and devoutly — Ecce Mater
tua. "Behold thy Mother." Then the Nuns
just received turn towards her, and bend one
knee to the ground. They are led by the
Superior, and come with their crowns in their
hands, and, after making a lowly reverence, lay
them at the feet of Mary, while the choir chant
or sing — Ecce filius tuus. " Behold thy child."
The new Nuns then take a crown of thorns
from behind the statue, and place it on their
heads instead of the crown of roses, and, again
bowing down, depart

Some similar peculiarities are observed on
taking the Religious dress. The Postulant is
led by her god-mother to the grating, and,
kneeling there, kisses the five wounds of a
crucifix presented by the Superior. While the
Superior holds it, the Postulant takes it in both
hands, and before kissing it says — "My cruci-

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fied Jesus, I choose Thee for my portion." She
rises, and after she has respectfully embraced
her god-mother, the Superior opens the door of
the Nuns' choir and lets her in. After she has
put on her Religious dress and received her
name, she turns to the statue of Mary, kneels
down, bends low, gets up, and kisses her feet.
She then kisses the Superior's hand and em-
braces her Sisters, saying to each — " Pray for
me."

CHAPTER IX.

DIFFERENT REPRESENTATIONS OF THE AGONY
OF JESUS.

The new Institute represents the Saviour's Agony.
Material representation. Historical representation.
Moral representation.

Yet more must be said to make our readers
thoroughly acquainted with the new Order ; we
must show them how it attains its double pur-
pose of honouring the Agony of Jesus and
contributing to the salvation of the dying. Our
concluding chapters will be devoted to these
subjects.

The Saviour of the world has been pleased to
come and make His abode amongst us on
earth until the end of time. He dwells with us
not merely by His real presence in the Sacra-
ment of His Love, but also by His mystical

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THE AGONISING HEART.

presence in the Church, which is His Body,
and in the Faithful, who are His members. If
every real Christian is another Christ, far more
is the Catholic Church, consisting of the Faithful
and their lawful Pastors, the continuation of the
life of Jesus Christ on earth. But by virtue of
their vocation, the Religious Orders are pecu-
liarly bound to represent the mysteries of our
Saviour's life. Every Institute is the reproduc-
tion of one phase of His adorable life, and a
special honour to some special mystery. The
Agony of Jesus was not yet represented by any
special Religious family, and the Community of
the Agonising Heart came to fill up this void.

The physical representation is the least im-
portant, although the material images which
appeal to the senses are intended to produce a
spiritual and sanctifying impression on the souL
By the constitution of the new Institute, all its
churches are to be dedicated to the Agonising
Heart, and are to have above the high altar a
picture of our Lord praying in the Garden of
Olives. Medals and pictures of the same
mystery are much used in the monasteries. At
Mende, a grotto has been built in the garden in
remembrance of the Grotto of the Agony ; our
Lord is represented praying, while an Angei
descending from Heaven offers Him the bitter
chalice; the Nuns often come here to share
their Master's sorrows, and we ourselves have
had the happiness of praying on the same spot

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Near at hand is a fountain of water, which serves
for the garden. It seemed to us a symbol of
the effects of our Lord's Agony, and of the life
of these fervent Nuns. Like poor withering
plants in the garden of the Church, we should
all perish hopelessly if our Divine Saviour's
tears, and drops of Blood, had not filled the
fountain of mercy; that fountain still receives
the tears, and sighs, and prayers of His faithful
Spouses, the innocent and mortified companions
of Jesus in His Agony. It remains for us, the
Priests of the Lord, to come and draw from its
depths grace and pardon for sinners and the
dying, that they may bring forth fruits of salva-
tion, pleasing to God.

The historical representation of the Agonising
Heart of the God-Man, becomes more and
more manifest throughout the whole Church.
The Body, like its Head, has had a hidden life
and a glorious life, a life of action and one of
suffering. Is it not now passing through an
agony, not the agony of death, for it can never
die, but an agony of fear, of heaviness and
sadness, an agony which makes the august
representative of Jesus Christ weep, while those
alas ! who had promised to watch with him
and defend him are sleeping. But many faithful
souls are suffering with him, are seeking to
share his sorrows and soften his afflictions.
They were born too late to bear Jesus company
on the Mount of Olives, so they endeavour, as

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some compensation, to become angels of conso-
lation to His Vicar in the Holy See. They
show their respect and love, they make the
sacrifice of their possessions, they devote them-
selves to defend the right and soothe the
anguish of the Pontiff King.

In the very year that our common Father
suffered so cruelly, this new Order arose, whose,
mission is to lighten the sorrows of the Church
and of its visible and its invisible Head by
sharing them. What will be the fate of the infant
Congregation ? We cannot say, but we may be
sure that suffering, and even agony, will be its.
portion, for, like many other Religious Orders,
it will not escape blame, or reproach, or per-
secution.

The moral representation of the Saviour's
Agony is found every day in souls. The Ago-
nising Heart of Jesus, by the force of Its love,
draws all suffering hearts to Itself. What heart
has not sometimes suffered agonies ? Which of
us can escape them? Our Saviour's Agony
arose from four principal causes, which may in
turn oppress our hearts. These causes were :
His coming Passion, the rage of the devil, the
sight of all the sins of the world, and com-
passion for all the sufferings of humanity. Even
should we escape personal suffering, or the
direct attacks of the devil, we cannot, if we
follow the path of virtue, escape the agony of
penitence or the agony of compassion. The;

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rmore pure and fervent we are, the more we love
God and our neighbours, the more acutely shall
wre feel the outrages offered to Him, and the
evils they suffer ; and therefore the nearer shall
we approach to that moral agony. Was there
< ever a Saint who did not long to suffer agony
with Jesus ? In the present day an increasing
number of hearts share the Agony of the Divine
Spouse of souls, and by their perfect resignation
console Him for all the injuries which He
receives from the careless and the profane.

If the Agonies of Jesus are multiplied, so are
-also the angels of consolation. To console
Him is the object of the societies of reparation
which are established amongst us. Is not this
.also the aim of the souls who consecrate them-
selves to God in honour of the Agonising
Heart ? The more pure they are, the more do
they love God. No doubt, when God accepts
their sacrifice He multiplies their sufferings, that
they may become more like the image of His
first-born Son, and may offer up acts of adora-
tion corresponding to the ever-renewed outrages
of men.

Providence is sometimes pleased to choose
from the very ranks of great sinners, those who
are to make amends for the outrages of others,
so that an honourable reparation may be offered
by the blasphemers themselves. We are bound
closely together in the order of grace, as well as
in the order of nature, and if it is well for us to

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198 THE AGONISING HEART.

have soldiers who make their breasts a rampart
against our enemies, it is better still to have
these holy victims, who bear all sacrifices, and
expose themselves to all kinds of suffering, in
order to make some amends for the outrages
committed against God's honour, and to obtain
grace for their brethren. Thus, one of the most
sinning parts of our generation has offered an
expiation, and the age which has caused so
much Agony to the God-Man, has produced
the Nuns of the Agonising Heart

The mystical representation still remains to
be developed; it consists of different exercises
performed by the Community, with the view of
recalling the sad mystery of the Garden of
Olives.

CHAPTER X.

MYSTICAL REPRESENTATION.

Exercise of the Five Wounds. Exercises of reparation.
The Holy Hour. Oblation — Intercession — Fast
Humiliation in the refectory. Prayer to the Angel
of Consolation.

Penitential exercises have their appointed
place in the daily life of a Nun of the Agonising
Heart, and they tend to perfect her resemblance
to Jesus Christ, as well in that which He had
to suffer in order to enter into His glory, as in
that which He had to undergo in order to save

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us. The Chapter is concluded by an exercise
of fraternal correction, practised in honour of
the Five Wounds of our Lord, especially of the
Wound in His Heart, in order to obtain the
correction of faults. This is called the Exercise
of the Five Wounds ; and the Nun who has to
undergo it, is admonished by the others of all
her external faults against the Rules and the
Institutes.

The exercises of reparation promote both
zeal and penitence ; for their object is to make
amends for the outrages which the dying have
throughout the whole course of their lives offered
to the Agonising Heart of Jesus, and also to
obtain for each one of them the grace of a good
death.

The exercises of reparation are annual,
monthly, weekly, and daily. The annual is
performed on Good Friday in honour of the
Passion of the Son of God ; the monthly on the
first Friday of the month; the weekly also
generally on Friday. At each one of these
exercises special prayers are made for all who
are to die before its recurrence. We give a
detailed account only of those exercises which
mystically represent the Agony of Jesus.

At a little before eleven o'clock each Thurs-
day night, the Sister whose office it is, wakens
the others for the Holy Hour. She calls them
in the words of our Lord — " Watch and pray,"
and they rise immediately, answering — " Let us

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THE AGONISING HEART.

watch and pray." They go to the choir, and at
an appointed signal they enter the church, two
and two, and take their places in front of the
tabernacle. At the first stroke of eleven, all
bow down to receive the blessing of our Lord,
and to offer Him this holy exercise. They rise
up, and one of the Sisters reads aloud the
account of our Saviour's Agony in the Garden
of Olives given in the Gospels. At the words,
"And going a little further, He fell upon His
face," all kneel down and prostrate themselves,
uniting their prayer to His Prayer, their sacrifice
to His Sacrifice, and offering themselves in
union with Him as victims to His Father. At
the words, "And when He arose up from
prayer and was come to His Disciples," they
rise. The very words spoken by Jesus in His
Agony are repeated, first by the Superior and
then by the Sisters all together in a slow voice.
They kiss the ground, and continue on their
knees, praying, till a quarter before twelve.
Then the Superior, accompanied by two of the
Nuns, goes with lighted candles and kneels on
the ground, straight before the altar; she says
aloud the act of reparation to the Agonising
Heart of Jesus, and some other prayers. As
midnight strikes, all bow down to receive the
blessing of Jesus from the tabernacle, and then
they retire.

The Community honours and represents the
Agony of our Divine Master in many other

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ways. The three things included in the vow
of immolation all recal His Agony. The daily
offering of life answers to that made by our
Saviour in the Garden of Olives, when He
accepted the death which His Father willed
He should undergo for our salvation. The
daily intercession corresponds to the prolonged
Prayer of His Agony; and the weekly fast
recals the physical exhaustion occasioned by
His Bloody Sweat.

A mortification in honour of the same mystery
is practised in the refectory. The Sister who
has been allowed to humble herself after the
example of her Agonising Saviour, kneels in the
middle of the refectory, with her head bent
down and her hands joined, and says : " O my
God, behold I come to do Thy holy will. I
belong to Thee, I am Thy victim, do with me
as it shall seem good to Thee. I accept in
a spirit of reparation, and in union with my
Saviour in the Garden of Olives, the humiliation
which Thou art pleased to bestow upon me;
mercifully strengthen my weakness, and pardon
my many sins." She then prostrates herself on
the ground and says, after a short pause : " My
Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass
from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as
Thou wilt" The Superior reproves her for her
faults. Then prostrating herself again, she says:
" My Father, if this chalice may not pass away,
but I must drink it, Thy will be done," and

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THE AGONISING HEART.

mentally renews the sacrifice of herself for those
in their last agony. She afterwards leaves the
refectory and goes to pray for the dying before
the Blessed Sacrament

Let me ask those who live in the enjoyment
of the pleasures of this world, and accuse con- .
templative Orders of idleness and uselessness,
whether there is anything in all their feasts and
gatherings so noble, so generous, or so useful
to human nature as this representation of the
Agony of the Son of God, made by humble
women during the hours that they spend in
banqueting and sleeping, who offer their lives
as a sacrifice in order to save those who die
each day ? While you are sleeping on your soft
pillows, or seeking pleasures in scenes of gaiety,
where your heart's best feelings are squandered,
and where perhaps Christian modesty is little
regarded, these angels of the earth are watching
and praying to obtain mercy for our dying
brethren. Perhaps your whole life on earth
will prove to be less useful than one hour that
they have thus spent

These innocent souls cannot forget the Angel
who consoled Jesus in His Agony, for their
most earnest longing is, after the example of
that heavenly spirit, to console their Divine
Master. It is natural that they should have a
special Devotion in his honour; and they are
in the habit of using the following prayer : —

"O my Saviour Jesus, Who, because of

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Thine immense love for men, didst consent
to endure a sadness even unto death, in the
Garden of Olives, and Who in Thy great weak-
ness and Agony didst not disdain to be upheld
and strengthened by an Angel, do not reject
the consolation which Thy most unworthy
servant desires to offer Thee with all possible
veneration and love. Alas ! my most kind
Saviour, I have had a share in causing Thine
Agony. For my sake, Thou hast suffered,
Thou hast poured forth a sweat of blood, Thou
hast shed many tears, Thou hast sighed and
groaned. O my Jesus, I have united my
prayer to Thy Prayer, and my sacrifice to Thy
Sacrifice, to expiate my sins, and to save the
souls of the dying; let me now, in order to
console Thee, be in spirit with the Angel of
the Agony. Let me abide with Thee in the
lonely Grotto, that I may watch Thy sorrows,
that I may grieve with Thee, and drain that
bitter chalice to the dregs which Thy Heavenly
Father has given Thee to drink.

" Glorious Minister of the Most High, to
whom was intrusted the sublime mission of
consoling and strengthening thy God, let me
remain with thee at my Saviour's side. Would
that I also could bring Him some solace in the
mortal Agony of His loving Heart ! Give me
strength and courage and love like thine, that
I may pray and suffer, and die with Jesus !
Amen."

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204 THE AGONISING HEART.

The devotion of the Nuns of the Agonising
Heart to the compassionate Heart of the Virgin
Mother, will easily be understood when we
remember that, of all human creatures, Mary
alone participated in His Agony.

CHAPTER XI.

DEVOTION TO THE COMPASSIONATE HEART OF
MARY.

The Blessed Disciple St. John, who, so shortly
"before his Masters Agony, rested on His
Divine Heart, is one of the patrons of the new
Order, but it is more especially devoted to our
Blessed Lady. We have spoken elsewhere of
the agony which Mary underwent during the
Agony of Jesus,* and have shown that her com-
passion and her grief reached their highest pitch
in that awful hour.

It is the intention of the Nuns of the Agonis-
ing Heart to have in each of their churches
a chapel dedicated to the compassionate Heart

• VAgonti de Jisus, liv. xii., ch. vi., t. iii., pp. 532
—544-

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of Mary. They are in the habit of invoking
this tender Mother, and recalling to her memory
the sorrows she endured. The Feast of her
Seven Dolours on the third Sunday in Septem-
ber, that of her Compassion on Friday in
Passion Week, and that of the Sacred Heart
of Mary, are celebrated with great solemnity.
The most holy Virgin is considered as the
Superior of the whole Congregation and of each
monastery; her statue is enthroned in the choir
between the places of the Mother Superior and
the Mother Assistant. Two gilt keys, repre-
senting the keys of the house, are placed at her
feet Her statue occupies the place of honour
in the refectory and in all the Community-
rooms. Each Nun has a little figure of Mary
in her cell, with a wooden crucifix. Every
morning the work of the day is distributed in
her name — this is called the obedience of Mary.
Every night, before they retire, the Sisters bow
before her statue and kiss her feet In the
morning, on rising, each one asks her blessing
privately, kneeling and saying — Nos cum prole
pia y benedicat Virgo Maria. "May the Virgin
Mary, with her loving Child, bless us." Recre-
ation is opened by an Ave Maria.

The following invocations to the Heart of
Mary and the Heart of Jesus are frequently
used : " Compassionate Heart of Mary, help
poor sinners;" "Agonising Heart of Jesus,
have pity on the dying."
s

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206 THE AGONISING HEART.

We give a prayer, which the Sisters say at
least twice a day : —

" O most merciful Mary, Refuge of Sinners, I
pray thee, by the sorrows of thy compassionate
Heartj and by the death of thy well-beloved Son
Jesus, obtain the grace of a true conversion for
all sinners in the world, especially for those who
lead others astray by bad example or pernicious
doctrine. Beseech God to remember His former
mercies, and to send this evil generation some
Apostolic men, mighty in deed and word, some
great Saints, endued with strength from on high,
to revive faith amongst Catholic nations, and
to stem the torrent of threatened calamities.
Amen."

On Friday, all who can, join those Sisters
who are making their intercession from nine to
ten o'clock in the evening, and honour Mary in
her desolation by mental or vocal prayer.

On Saturday the act of consecration is made :
"Holy Virgin, Mother of Dolours, we conse-
crate ourselves to thine Immaculate Heart
Remember that Jesus gave us to thee on Cal-
vary ; show thyself our Mother, sweetest Mary.
We intrust to thy care all our temporal and
eternal interests, particularly the government of
bur Congregation, beseeching thee to animate
all those who enter it with thine own spirit
Bless us, dear Mother, and grant that, like thee,
we may in all things only seek the good pleasure
of God and His greater glory. Amen."

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On the seven principal Feasts of the Blessed
Virgin an exercise of humiliation is made by the
Nuns, with the . three-fold object of rendering
homage to the Dolours of the Mother of God ;
of gaining, by the merits of those sufferings, an
increase of the spirit of their vocation, that is
to say, of the spirit of prayer and sacrifice, of
gentleness and humility, of zeal for souls, of
devotion to the Sacred Person of our Lord, and
compassion for His Agonies ; and lastly, of
obtaining graces of conversion and salvation for
the dying, for heretics, and sinners. Perpetual
supplication to the compassionate Heart of
Mary for the present needs of the Church was
established at Mende, on the 29th of Septem-
ber, 1865.

These practices of devotion keep in view not
only the compassion of the Virgin Mother for
the Agony of her Divine Son, but also the zeal
of Mary for the salvation of the dying.

In a revelation made to the Abbess of Agr^da
regarding the fearful dangers which beset the
dying, the Blessed Virgin said : " I will not tell
you how many of the dying are lost, for you,
who love God, would die of grief if you knew
their number. But if you would help those who
are in such peril, begin by doing all you can to
convince the living that, in order to die a good
death, they must take great care of their souls.
Never forget to pray for this intention ; beg the
Almighty to destroy the snares and weapons

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208 THE AGONISING HEART.

which the devil brings to bear against the
dying, and to put them to flight by His own
right hand. You know I used to pray thus for
mortals, and I would have you follow my
example."*

Though our Lady is now in Heaven, she is
still the model of all members of the Confra-
ternity or Congregation of the Agonising in
their daily prayers and works for the salvation
of the dying. "Worldly friends," says St
Liguori, ' 1 are attentive to us while fortune
favours us, but when we fall into trouble, and
especially when death comes, they turn their
backs upon us. But Mary does not treat her
servants thus ; she is never seen to forsake
them in any adversity, far less in the greatest
of all, in the agony of death. She is our life
while we are still in this place of exile ; she is
our sweetest comfort at the hour of death, which
she makes both calm and happy. Ever since
the day that Mary had the mingled sorrow and
consolation of helping the Head of all the Elect
in His last hours, it has been her privilege to
assist all the Elect in their passage to eternity ;
therefore the Church teaches us to say to her —
' Pray for us, poor sinners, now and at the hour
of our death.' "

The greatest honour and consolation we can
give to the Agonising Heart of Jesus and the

* Marie d'Agreda, La Citl Mystique, pt. 2, n. v.,
ch. xv., nn. 880—884.

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compassionate Heart of Mary is by endeavour-
ing to lessen the number of sinners, especially
of those who die in sin, for it was the sight of
sin and of the torments of the lost that pierced
those Sacred Hearts as with a sword. Should
not the very thought of the zeal of the Blessed
Virgin quicken our zeal ? A fervent Religious
says : — " When we think of all that Mary had
done for each of those souls, those who cease-
lessly, momentarily, are causing their own
eternal punishment ; when we call to mind the
many graces which she has obtained for every
one of them, and, consequently, the yearning of
her maternal heart for their final perseverance
and everlasting salvation, we may form some
idea how acceptable this particular Devotion
must be to her. She has an especial predilection
for a death-bed, and she seems to choose it for
a remarkable exercise of her jurisdiction. It is
there that she so visibly cooperates with Jesus
in the redemption of mankind. But she seeks
for us to cooperate with her also. She would
fain join our hearts to her Heart, our prayers to
lier prayer. Is she not the one Mother of us
all ? Are not the dying our brothers and our
sisters in the gentle motherhood of Mary ? The
interests of the human family are at stake, and
we must not be indifferent about it. Mary
in many mysterious ways helped her Son to die.
By His will, and in the satisfaction of her own
maternal love, she has now given her aid at

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the death-bed of many millions. By devout
thoughts, by pious practices, by frequent ejacu-
lations, by so many prayers to which the Church
has attached indulgences, let us obtain a happy
ending for ourselves, by following Mary every-
where to the death-beds she attends."*

CHAPTER XII.

THE SALVATION OF THE AGONISING.

How does the new Institute attain its second
object, the salvation of the dying ? How can
Nuns who are always shut up in their cloister
benefit the dying?

We must begin by observing, that it is not
by a life of outward movement and action, of
journeying and preaching, that God wills women
to promote the well-being of Christian society ;
but by their inward life, their hidden virtues,
their retirement and prayer, by a constant
devotion of self, a silent and unobtrusive devo-

* Faber, The Foot of the Cross, or, the Sorrows of
Mary, ch. vi.

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tion. We borrow some reflections on this
subject from one of the old biographers of St.
Mary of the Incarnation : " As women, for
reasons into which we need not enter, are
excluded from public employments, it would
seem that the perfection suited to their sex is
found in the Christian care of their families.
Nevertheless, it sometimes pleases God, for the
manifestation of His glory and goodness, to
bestow extraordinary gifts on certain humble,
pious, modest women, who are free from all ties
of earthly affections, and to lead them to per-
form actions of such public importance, that
they are like lamps shining upon the holy
candlestick, and like the sun when it rises to
the world in the high places of God (Ecclus.
xxvi. 21, 22). So Deborah was chosen to give
victory and peace to Israel by the wiseness of
her counsels and the justice of her judgments.
Judith and Esther preserved their people from
impending ruin. Again, in the Acts of the
Apostles, we see that though they were not
permitted to speak in the assemblies of the
Faithful, certain holy women were led by their
zeal for souls to accompany the Apostles on
their journeys, that they might be able to teach
the way of salvation in private. Such were
Prisca, Mary, and some others, whom St. Paul
calls his helpers, who have laboured with him
in the Gospel, to whom all the Churches of
the Gentiles give thanks, and whose names

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THE AGONISING HEART.

are in the book of life (Rom. xvi. 3, 6;
Phil. iv. 3). Our Lord has been pleased from
time to time to renew the wonders of the
early ages of His Church, and we may men-
tion Mdlle. Acarie as an instance of one whose
apostolic zeal almost equalled that of St Paul's
helpers, and was rewarded by numerous con-
versions."*

If a married woman, living in her family, was
enabled to do much good, is it likely that a
consecrated virgin, free from all family cares,
and specially devoted to the relief of human
misery, will not have equal power over the
hearts of the godly by her prayers, and over the
hearts of sinners by her works ? The history of
the Church shows us, that God in His provi-
dence has often associated a cloistered Nun
with some Saint who was actively engaged in
the duties of the Apostolic ministry.

In the introduction of the Cause of the
Venerable Mother Agnes, who contributed so
largely to the good works done by M. Olier, the
following remark is made : " It has often been
observed that some very holy women have had
a great affection for certain men of eminent
sanctity, whom God seemed specially to confide
to their care, and that they have constantly
assisted them by their counsels. Because of
their very ardent zeal for the conversion of

* Boucher, Histoire de la B. Marie de f Incarnation,
publiee par Mgr. l'Eveque d'Orleans, 1. ii., ch. iii.

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sinners, God allowed them to be associated
with these eminent men for the furtherance of
Apostolic labours which their sex forbade them
to undertake in person. They helped them by
their prayers, so that the fruits of conversion
were due to both. For a real conversion two
things are required, that the sinners heart should
be touched by the grace of God, and that he
should be instructed in his duties. The first of
these is obtained by the prayer of these holy
women, and the second by the preaching and
other labours of Apostolic men. Moreover, the
prayers of holy women are also answered by the
light God gives to the Priest, and by the oppor-
tunities He grants him of bringing more souls
to repentance."*

The last biographer of the Founder of St.
Sulpice adds : " This union of grace, which
tended to raise the servant of God to the
highest perfection, and to make him share the
zeal of Mother Agnes, is not without an example
in the lives of Apostolic men. It is like that
formed by the Holy Spirit between St. John of
the Cross and St. Teresa, with a view of com-
municating to the reformer of Carmel the zeal
of the seraphic virgin, and making him, by
means of her exhortations, a fit instrument to
execute the designs of God. The providence
of God works in a marvellous manner some-
times, in order to preserve great men from the
* Vie de M. Olier, pt. 1, 1. iii., note.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

poison of pride, which is ready to taint the
holiest things; it makes an apparently feeble
instrument necessary to their success; it con-
nects the graces of illumination and conversion
with the ardent prayer of a simple woman ; and
grants it an efficacy denied to eloquence or
mere human efforts."*

Of what use to the world then are the Nuns
of the Agonising Heart of Jesus ? Of the same
use as all good women, as all holy and devoted
souls ; ten such would have sufficed to save
Sodom, and some few now suffice to draw down
the mercy of God on sinners who only deserve
His justice. Of what use are they ? They are
the helpers and supporters, perhaps they even
act as a stimulus on the zealous laymen and
holy Priests who are labouring in the world to
reconcile the dying to Christ Of what use ?
They animate our fervour, they excite us to
holy emulation by the daily austerities which
they choose as their portion, in order that men
may have the gifts and graces needed in their
ministry to the dying. Of what use? They
gain for us opportunities of exerting our zeal,
and the means of success in our efforts for the
salvation of the dying. Of what use ? To keep
us humble, for we who speak and act may
perhaps one day see with astonishment, that
the successes which we attributed to our works
were really due to some lowly Spouse of
* Faillon, VkdeM. Olier, pt. I, 1. iii., n. ix.

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Christ who had lived a life of sacrifice and
prayer in the cloister. Of what use? To
obtain for the dying, by our prayers and
our sacrifices, that grace which may transform
their hearts, while we, by our words, may
remove the dark clouds hanging over then-
understandings.

If the Nuns of the Agonising Heart do not
stand in the breach to fight the battles of our
Lord, yet they are silently preparing the way by
which souls are to come to repentance, and to
escape the worst evils. People often say that
there is no need for convents, and that a life of
prayer and penance is a useless life. But they
might as well say that a physician is enough to
heal the sick, and that the laboratory where
remedies are prepared is of no use. No, the life
that is consumed in the rigours of penance to
save the agonising from a terrible end, is far
from an idle one, and it will not be in vain for
devout Christians, who do not feel themselves
called upon to make all the sacrifices of these
voluntary victims, at least to join with them as
far as they are able. Whether, with them, you
choose the Mount of Olives for your dwqlling-
place, or make it the object of your frequent
pilgrimages, your work will be eminently Apos-
tolic in its nature. The career open to your
zeal comprises not merely one province or
one empire, you have the whole universe for
your battle-field, and since your Apostolate

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extends to all who are to die, every human
being is included in your sacrifices and your
charity.*

CHAPTER XIII.

PRAYERS OF CONTEMPLATIVE ORDERS.

Detractors of contemplative life inconsistent and unjust.
Good done by contemplative Orders. Examples of
sinners converted by them. Value of the prayers of a
whole Community.

Let us ask those who in the name of universal
tolerance anathematise the contemplative life,
those who in the name of religious liberty
condemn the perpetual worship of God, and
those who in the name of humanity claim for
the poor and sick the time spent in solitude
and prayer, and the alms bestowed on the
Spouses of Jesus Christ — What good do you do
to the poor and sick ? how much time do you
devote to them? what portion of your income
is spent in lessening their sufferings ? when do
you honour God? when do you think of your
Saviour and of the eternal truths? when do
you think of your own death, and of the
salvation of your soul? You have anathemas
for houses of prayer, but you have none for
the haunts of vice ! you applaud dancers and

* Messager du Sacri Cccur, Novembre, 1861, art i.,
n. iii., pp. 187, 188.

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actresses, and you speak evil of those sublime
women who sacrifice themselves for your sakes !
you encourage the opening of a new theatre,
you have nothing to say against those places
where souls are lost, yet you would fetter the
few holy Congregations who seek in silence to
expiate the crimes of the world and to obtain
salvation for those who are perishing. Hypo-
crites ! who would cast out the mote that you
think you see in the existence or in the mode
of life of the contemplative Orders, how is it
that you do not see and do not cast out the
beam from your own eyes and the eyes of your
friends — the uselessness of your life, the scandal
to which you give rise, and your indifference to
the misfortunes of others ?

In these days, while so many men are work-
ing for the extension of Satan's empire, why
should not holy women labour for the spread
of the Kingdom of Christ ? God is often pleased
to choose the weak things of the world to con-
found the strong ; and it may be for His glory
to let the simple prayer of a poor woman
counteract the evil efforts of rich and learned
men. Our century presents no fairer sight to
the eye of Faith. Floods of corruption and
atheism are spread over the world by the press,
and other means ; but just as the grains of sand
form a barrier against the waves of the ocean,
so the mighty designs of the wicked are often
brought to nothing by lowly women, who remain

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quietly where God has placed them, praying,
loving, and suffering. Take courage, Christian
Mothers ! take courage, Spouses of Christ !
Make some return to Christianity for what it
has done for you. It has given you honour and
liberty ; give it the souls of the living, even at
the last moment rescue them for an eternity of
bliss ; bring Jesus to the souls of the dying who
are stained with sin, as Mary, your model,
brought Him into the world which was polluted
with iniquity.

Even if the Nuns of the Agonising Heart
did nothing but pray for the dying, we might
look for many and glorious conversions, for the
contemplative life raises some souls to eminent
holiness, unites them to God, "Whose ear is
open unto their prayer." It is true that all
members of the Church are bound to pray for
each other, and that this duty is fulfilled in the
cloister better than anywhere else, and, more-
over, that the power of prayer is, generally
speaking, in proportion to the holiness of the
person who prays. The law of mediation is
considered as universal in the spiritual creation,
and the supernatural perfection of any creature
gives a greater power of acting on others, and
of obtaining for them the grace of God. We
have examples of this truth in the lives of many
contemplative Nuns, who, although it was not
their especial vocation to pray for the dying,
succeeded in saving many of them.

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St Victoire Fornari, Fbundress of the Annon-
ciades Celestes, wished to have prayers for
Preachers made in her monastery during Lent,
that they might work earnestly and successfully
in gaining souls for God. Having heard that
some one had committed a great sin, she was
overwhelmed with grief, and bound herself by
a vow to fast and perform many penances that
the sinner might be enlightened and converted.
God heard her prayers, and brought him to
repentance. On the nth of September, 1612,
she heard that the soul of a dying person, for
whose salvation she had often prayed, was in
the greatest danger. She turned immediately
with fervent love to God, and said: "Lord,
Thou canst not refuse me this soul, for Thou
hast promised it to me." She repeated these
words many times, extending her arms in the
form of a cross. While she was praying, a
bright light surrounded her, as if the sun's rays
had broken through a cloud. This light lasted
about the time it takes to repeat a Miserere.
Victoire recovered her consciousness, but was
so weak that she could not stand. She said
that the person was dead, that his soul was
saved, but would have to remain long in Purga-
tory.*

In the life of St Catharine Ricci, another
contemplative Nun, we read the following anec-
dote : "On the 1 2th of September, 1542, a

* Vita dclla B. Maria Vittoria Fornari, 1. ii., cap. vii.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

criminal was condemned to death, and fell into
a fearful state of despair, he was tempted to
give himself up to Satan, and to blaspheme
God, and to wish for eternal damnation. The
efforts made by zealous and experienced men to
prepare him for death seemed only to increase
his obstinacy and fury. This soul was recom-
mended to the prayers of the Saint She
prostrated herself immediately on the ground,
determined to die there rather than rise without
obtaining her petition. With ardent charity,
she exclaimed : * O Lord, Thou canst take
my life, and send me to hell if Thou wilt, for
I am Thine, Thou art my absolute Master, but
I pray Thee that the soul of the wretched being
who is about to be executed may go to Heaven.
O my God, I know Thou wilt hear me, I know
Thou wilt save this soul ! ' Our Lord appeared
to her with a severe and angry countenance,
and told her that this malefactor was extremely
obstinate in his wickedness, that he was rejecting
light, and that therefore divine justice must take
its course. The Saint reminded the Son of God
of all that He had suffered for this soul. Our
Lord again answered her, taking the side of
justice, and Catharine continued to plead for
mercy. At length He consented to grant the
request of His servant, but only on condition
that she should bear some part of the sufferings
due to this sinner for his enormous crimes.
Immediately, Catharine began to feel fearful

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pains, which continued for several years. But
at the first moment of her sufferings, the sinner's
heart began to turn to God. He wept, he
expressed a desire to confess his sins, he
acknowledged himself worthy of a thousand
deaths more terrible than the one before him,
and he died with such resignation, patience,
and joy, that all who saw him were melted to
tears."*

Can the fervent prayers and constant sacri-
fices of the Nuns of the Agonising Heart of
Jesus fail to obtain the conversion of sinners?
It is not one soul alone that prays, not even
one Religious family, but it is a whole Society
animated by the same ideas, directing all its
powers to the same end. These numerous
prayers must necessarily be of great effect, and
in truth, though the Congregation has only
existed for a short time, God has already mani-
fested by unequivocal signs the power He
vouchsafes to give to this Society for the con-
version of the dying.

* Sandrini, Vita di Santa Caterina de Ricci, 1.
cap. vi., n. 2.

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THE AGONISING HEART.

CHAPTER XIV.

CONVERSIONS OBTAINED.

Conversion of a merchant at Mende. Conversion of an
old man in the diocese of Bordeaux. Holy deaths of
the relations of Nuns. To multiply conversions let us
promote the extension of the Society.

We proceed to give some examples of what has
already been said. A respectable merchant was
living at Mende in 1863. His fortune was con-
siderable, and though he was not yet advanced
in years he had retired from active business to
enjoy the repose which is so welcome after toil.
In the pressure of worldly affairs he had lost
sight of eternity, and though he had received a
Christian education, forty-two years had now
passed since he had approached the sacraments.
His brother, a Priest, and his sister, a worthy
mother of a family, tried to recal to his mind
his early religious impressions, but he always
put off the subject till " by-and-bye." Alas ! in
how many cases that time never comes. Grace
constantly knocked at the door, but he con-
tinued deaf to the warnings of God and of man.
Nevertheless, he could not escape God's mercy.

He went to rest one night in perfect health ;
in the morning a sudden attack brought him
apparently to the point of death. The doctor
and the Priest were both summoned, but they
had to wait several hours before he recovered

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consciousness. Fear made him ready to listen
to the voice of God's messenger, and he began
to make his confession. The Agonising Heart
of Jesus had granted him time, in answer to the
prayers offered by a Christian family. But as
the day went on he felt better, and, in his
accustomed spirit of procrastination, he told the
Priest that he would soon go to him and finish
his confession.

Things continued in this state till the third
day of his illness, when a relation went to
recommend him to the prayers of her sister, a
Nun of the Agonising Heart. The Nun took
her medal and gave it to her sister, saying —
" Tell him that, as I cannot go to see him, I
send him this token of my affection." He
received it well, kissed it, and wore it round
his neck. Seeing him in such a good frame of
mind, the relation went again for the Priest ; he
made his confession, and received absolution.

Those around him were uncertain whether
the last sacraments should be at once adminis-
tered ; the dying man expressed his willingness
to abide by their judgment, and only feared lest
he was not sufficiently prepared. It was decided
that the Holy Viaticum should be given to him,
and he was anxious again to purify his con-
science, that he might be ready for so great a
blessing. After he had received the Bread of
Angels his countenance lighted up with joy.
He embraced those who had contributed to

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THE AGONISING HEART.

his happiness and those who had witnessed it
He begged a young Priest, a relation, to remain
with him during the night, which he spent in
prayer. He made a generous sacrifice of his life
to God, and renewed his acts of faith, hope,
charity, and contrition. Weakness came on
suddenly; his Confessor hastened to his side,
and gave him Extreme Unction. The happy
penitent was calm and resigned, and responded
to all the sentiments suggested to him. He
lost the power of speech, but his conscious-
ness remained, and he gave signs of continued
peace. He died with the serenity of the just,
and went to increase the number of the Elect
who owe their eternal salvation to the Agonising
Heart of Jesus.*

The conversion of an old man of eighty, in
the diocese of Bordeaux, was obtained in the
same year by the Nuns. He was of good birth,
and distinguished by high moral qualities, but
had been led astray by false philosophy. Incon-
sistently enough, he snowed respect for religion,
and bore his frequent and tedious sufferings with
great resignation, while he continued to live
without the sacraments, in which, he said, he
had no belief. His age and infirmities made
his family feel most anxious about him, but
they could gain no other answer to their
entreaties.

* Messager dti SacrS Cccur, Sept., 1863, art. iv.,
pp. 144—146.

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One of his nieces had particularly recom-
mended him to the prayers of the Nuns of the
Agonising Heart and of the members of the
Confraternity, but for a long time no change
was apparent. About the middle of the year
1863, a letter was written to the Nuns, begging
them to make a new effort. They sent a little
picture of the Agonising Heart, which was
placed in the sick man's room, that it might be
near him in his agony. Grace prevailed; the
Priest was admitted, and, to the great joy of
the pious family, was able to accomplish his
holy mission. Soon afterwards the old man lost
the use of his faculties. He died, leaving those
who had watched him full of gratitude to the
merciful Agonising Heart, Whose picture had
been an instrument of his salvation.*

The world accuses Nuns of forgetting and
neglecting their families. Yet often nothing but
their prayers and sacrifices could open Heaven
to a father, or brother, or uncle, who has spent
his whole life far from God. When love becomes
supernatural, it gains fresh constancy and power,
it obtains grace from Heaven for those who are
its objects. It has frequently been observed that
the relations of those who have devoted them-
selves to God in the Religious life have happy
deaths. The Nuns of the Agonising Heart
cannot but desire, and cannot fail to obtain, the
grace of conversion or of final perseverance for
* Messager du SacrJ Occur, Sept., 1863, art. iv., p. 147.

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226 THE AGONISING HEART.

the dying members of their families. A letter
which the Foundress wrote to us on the 6th of
March, 1864, shows that this is the case. How
this mother, who left her ten children in the
world, must rejoice in the thought that her con-
secration to the Agonies of the Divine Heart
may obtain for all those that are dear to her a
calm and happy death. " Recent and consoling
facts," she says, "have shown us that the
Agonising Heart of Jesus grants special favours
to the relations of our Sisters. In one case, an
old man rejoiced in the hope that his daughter,
a Nun in our Community, would obtain for him
the grace of a happy death ; and to the last his
mind remained unclouded, and he died as a
Christian should die. Another instance is that
of a man in the full vigour of life, upright and
honourable in his conduct, who, though his
faith remained unimpaired, neglected his reli-
gious duties. He fell ill, and a relation of his
who is with us told us of her fears about his
soul, and we all united in supplication to the
Agonising Heart of Jesus. Very soon the sick
man sent for the Priest, that he might make
his peace with God, and, through the different
phases of a rapid and painful malady, he showed
a wonderful degree of resignation and patience
He kissed the crucifix and died, pronouncing
the name of Jesus. I think, indeed, that it
would wrong the Heart of our good Master to
•doubt that our devotion to the dying obtains

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special graces for those whom we have forsaken
only for His sake."

If, then, your hearts are grieved at the sight
of the multitude of impenitent, dying sinners, if
you wish to give for ever to Jesus the souls
which He has bought with His Blood, help this
new Congregation to extend its branches in all
directions. Encourage the spread of this Order,
multiply its houses and its members, and you
will multiply the means of spiritual assistance
for the dying, many of whom would be lost
without this special aid. And you, Christian
wives and mothers, who would do anything for
the eternal welfare of your husbands and chil-
dren, shrink not from the sacrifice, if our Lord
should call one of your daughters to honour His
Agonising Heart, and promote the salvation of
the dying. She will be a blessed victim, sacri-
ficing herself daily for her family ; she will gain
the souls of her father and brothers, and she
will appear to her mother as an angel of"
consolation in her hours of greatest suffering.

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CHAPTER XV.

THE FUTURE.

We cannot conclude this work without some
reflections as to the future. It is not given to
us, indeed, to draw aside the veil, yet Provi-
dence seems to let hope shine through it For
why did God call this Devotion of the Agonising
Heart into being towards the middle of this
century ? Why, twelve years later, Devotion to
the Holy Agony ? What is the reason of the
rapid growth of these two Devotions? Why
have they produced, not only Confraternities
but Religious Congregations, whose principle
object is contemplation and prayer ? No doubt
a purpose of Providence is here; a plan has
been made of which we only see the beginning.
We know not when it will reach perfection, but
we cannot doubt that great things are in prepa-
ration.

As the fever of action gains on modern
society, as the whirl of material progress carries
it on, an increasing need arises for the preserva-

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tion of that spirit of retirement, of prayer and of
sacrifice, which ensures moral progress and the
eternal salvation of souls. Now, one of the
means which God employs to keep it alive is
the presence of the contemplative Orders, which
He has restored amongst us, and which tend by
their example to quicken the fervour of Chris-
tians living in the world The Carmelites, the
Trappistines, the Carthusians, already render us
this great service, and the Nuns of the Agonising
Heart are about to do the same.

Even active Religious Orders are in great
danger of losing the spirit of fervent and inward
devotion in an age which has lost faith in the
supernatural, and which has, alas ! witnessed so
many defections. Without any change in the
letter and spirit of their Institutes, would it not
be well if some means could be found whereby
to preserve the inward and supernatural spirit of
devotion, which is the very essence of their
vitality? And would not devotion to the
Agonising Heart of the God-Man, if introduced
into Religious Houses under the form of per-
petual intercession, tend to accomplish this
object? And if a great centre of prayers and
sacrifices could be established, to which, in
virtue of the Communion of Saints, active
Communities might be joined, on conditions
consistent with their Institutes, would not still
greater good be the result? For this centre,
being full of the spirit of prayer and sacrifice,
u

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THE AGONISING HEART.

which belongs to the Agonising Heart of our
Lord, would constantly keep it alive amongst
them.

By the grace of God this may be done. But
this centre or focus ought to be surrounded by
the most favourable circumstances for the main-
tenance and increase of the supernatural and
inward spirit of devotion. Everything that
could tend to impair that spirit ought to be
kept at a distance, since the object is to assist
Congregations which are already exposed to this
peril. If the central body were itself likely to
lose that spirit, it would have enough to do to
keep it alive among its own members. In many
Monastic Orders, by the Sovereign Pontiffs
desire, there are certain Houses set apart, where
those members who are called to a life of more
especial contemplation and more profound soli-
tude are able to retire. These Houses draw
.down a blessing on the active Religious of the
Order. Why should not an entire Congregation
of women in the same way pray for the many
active Orders, and keep alive amongst them, by
example, the inward spirit of devotion and of
sacrifice ? If there is a bond of union amongst
all human beings, if all the Faithful are able to
form an Association for doing good, might not
all Communities of women be likewise united in
their prayers and their sacrifices, so that, while
the contemplative pray for the active, the active
should work for the contemplative ?

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The infant Congregation of the Agonising
Heart of Jesus seems to be called by God to
perform this office for the active Orders. But, to
fulfil such a vocation, it must devote its energies
to prayer and sacrifice, that is to say, it must
be exclusively contemplative — its action must
be confined to the prudent affiliation of people
living in the world.

The influence of the Agonising Heart of our
Master will also reach Congregations of men.
It will diffuse through all pious souls, whether
in the world or in the cloister, the supernatural
and inward spirit of prayer and immolation, just
as the peculiar functions of our hearts is to
vivify the whole body. The spirit of prayer and
sacrifice which comes from the Agonising Heart
will be accompanied by Its own supernatural
life. There is nothing more remarkable in our
Lord's Agony in the Garden of Olives, than His
prolonged Prayer, His voluntary immolation of
Himself, His inward spirit of real devotion;
for real devotion means entire self-sacrifice —
giving oneself up unreservedly to God and to
man. And this spirit is often wanting, espe-
cially in those who are themselves afflicted,
tempted, or in their last agony. They pray
little, they sacrifice themselves still less. The
dying are but a portion of that barren soil
which the Agonising Heart longs to water and
to refresh. A beginning has been made where
the need was greatest, but further progress will

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232 THE AGONISING HEART.

soon be seen, and all souls, in the hour of afflic-
tion as well as in the hour of death, will partake
of benefits due to the holy and life-giving Agony
of Jesus.

With God, with Jesus Himself, contemplation
precedes action. So must it be with Religious
Orders. The contemplative element is first
developed, but the active follows, and the delay
only serves to make it the more vigorous and
fruitful. The love of God and the love of souls
are inseparable, and their united force will make
the contemplative Nuns of the Agonising Heart
desire that others should act. They will seek
fellow-workers, whose visible ministry may apply
to the souls of the dying the graces which thejr
have won by their invisible life. And this will
be the highest perfection of the work. St
Thomas Aquinas says : — " A life of contem-
plation is better than that life of mere activity
in what concerns the body. But the active life
of one who, by preaching and teaching, commu-
nicates to others that which he has gained by
contemplation, is far more perfect than a purely
contemplative life, because it pre-supposes an
abundance of contemplation. Therefore our
Lord chose for Himself this kind of active
life."*

A simple contemplative life, then, ranks,
higher than a merely active life, such as that
of lay people who are engaged in servile occu-

* St Thomas, Summ., pt. 3., q. 40, art. i, ad 2.

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THE COMMUNITY.

2 33

pations, or of Religious who devote themselves
to the solace of the ills of the body. But it
ranks less high than active spiritual life, in
which teaching, labours for the conversion of
sinners, unbelievers, and the dying, are added
to contemplation. This mixed life is the most
perfect, the most fruitful, and the most exalted.
God contemplates and God acts. He acts
internally, and His action is an eternal creation;
He acts externally, and His action is a temporal
•creation. The Son of God, when He became
Man, passed from contemplation to action;
even in the Garden of Olives, where He con-
templated for so long a time, He vouchsafed to
act to a certain degree. In the Church, the
contemplative Orders were a preparation for the
active Orders. The Order of the Agonising
Heart, in its tendency to the perfection of a
complete conformity to our Lord, will add the
active to the contemplative element, and will
keep up the spirit of prayer throughout all its
ramifications, at the same time devoting some
of its members to external labour, in order that
more abundant fruits of salvation may thus be
brought forth.

This work was the least of all works, a mere
grain of mustard-seed, which the God-Man
sowed in His field the Church. Already it has
grown up, and by-and-bye it will become a great
tree, so that the birds of the air may come and
dwell in the branches thereof (Matt xiii. 31, 32).

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234 THE AGONISING HEART.

Throughout the whole tree the life-giving sap of
prayer will circulate, and this very sap will make
the branches put forth the wholesome fruits of
outward activity. The contemplative element
will be the trunk and the roots, drawing nourish-
ment from the earth, which was moistened by
the Bloody Sweat of the Agonising Saviour,
while the active element will be the branches
laden with fruit Its benefits will be visible to
all, it will bend over the dying and the afflicted
to give them the food they need, protecting
some from the fiery rain of avenging justice, and
affording to others the refreshing shade which
tempers their passing trials.

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PRAYERS FOR THE DYING.

DAILY PRAYER.
[Latin.]

O clementissime Jesu, amator animarum,
obsecro Te per agoniam Cordis Tui Sanctissimi
et per dolores Matris Tuae Immaculatae, lava
in sanguine tuo peccatores totius mundi nunc
positos in agonia, et hodie morituros. Amen.

Cor Jesu in agonia factum, miserere mori-
entium.

[English.]

O most merciful Jesus, Lover of Souls, I pray
Thee, by the Agony of Thy most Sacred Heart,
and by the sorrows of Thy Immaculate Mother,
cleanse in Thine own Blood the sinners of the
whole world who are now in their agony, and
are to die this day. Amen.

Heart of Jesus, once in Agony, pity the
dying.*

* There is an indulgence of 100 days every time this
prayer is said. A plenary indulgence if it is said three
times a day, at distinct intervals, for a month together.

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2$6 THE AGONISING HEART.

II.

LITANY OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN OF OLIVES.

Lord have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

Christ hear us.

Christ graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have

mercy 011 us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity one God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Who didst go to a solitary place and

pray, before delivering Thyself up to Thine

enemies, have mercy on the dying.
Jesus, Whose Heart was oppressed by mortal

sadness in the Garden of Gethsemane, have

mercy on the dying.
Jesus, filled with fear at the thought of the

torments of Thy Passion, and at our sins,

have mercy on the dying.
Jesus, overwhelmed with sadness by foreseeing

the fruitlessness of Thy sufferings for souls

which refuse to profit by them, Iiave mercy on

the dying.

Jesus, strengthened in Thine Agony by an
Angel from Heaven, have mercy on the dying.

Jesus, accepting the chalice of Thy Passion for
love of us, have mercy on the dying.

Jesus, Who didst say in the midst of Thine

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PRAYERS FOR THE DYING. 237

anguish, "Father, not My will, but Thine

be done," have mercy on the dying.
Jesus, exhausted by Thy Sweat of Blood, have

mercy on the dying.
Jesus, persevering in prayer, notwithstanding the

weakness of nature, have mercy on the dying.
Jesus, Who didst come to Thine Apostles and

find them sleeping, have mercy on the dying.
Jesus, Who didst say to them, " Could you not

watch with Me one hour ? " have mercy on the

dying.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the

world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the

world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the

world, have mercy upon us, O Lord.

V. Heart of Jesus, once in Agony,
R. Pity the dying.

Let us pray.

O my Divine Saviour, call to mind the sad-
ness of Heart, and the fear which oppressed
Thee, when, being in an Agony, Thou didst
pray the longer, and didst water the earth with
a Sweat of Blood. I offer it to Thee with
tender love, and I beseech Thee, by every drop
of that Precious Blood, to have mercy on the
dying, and to put away all their sins. Amen.*

* Boulange^ Manuel de la Confririedu Cceur Agonisant,
erig^e en faveur des agonisants de chaque jour, dans la cha-
pefie de la Visitation Sainte Marie, de Mans, pp. 45 — 47.

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238 THE AGONISING HEART.

III.

LITANY OF ST. JOSEPH.

Lord have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

Christ hear us.

Christ graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have

mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, spouse of St Joseph, pray for the

dying.

St Joseph, virgin spouse of the Immaculate
Virgin, pray for the dying.

St Joseph, perfect pattern of all virtue, pray
for the dying.

St Joseph, great model of faith and of confi-
dence in God, pray for the dying.

St Joseph, who didst adore the new-born Saviour
in the manger, pray for the dying.

St Joseph, who didst see the first drops of His
Blood, shed in His Circumcision, pray for the
dying.

St Joseph, who with Mary didst offer the Lord

in the Temple, for the salvation of the world,

pray for the dying.
St Joseph, who, obeying the voice of the Angel,

didst save Him from Herod's fury, pray for

the dying.

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PRAYERS FOR THE DYING. 239

St Joseph, who, full of sorrow, with Mary didst

seek Jesus for three days, pray for the dying.
St Joseph, by whose labour He was fed, pray

fir the dying.
St Joseph, guardian of the childhood and youth

of Jesus, pray for the dying.
St Joseph, who didst die in the arms of Jesus

and Mary, pray for the dying.
St Joseph, help of Christians in their last agony,

pray for the dying.
St Joseph, our protector and advocate with

Jesus and Mary, pray for the dying.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the

world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the

world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, WTio takest away the sins of the

world, have mercy upon us, O Lord.

V. Pray for us, holy Joseph,
R. That we may be made worthy of the
promises of Christ

Let us pray.
Pray for us, great Saint, and by thy love for
Jesus and Mary, and by Their love for thee,
obtain for us the happiness of living and dying
in the love of Jesus and Mary. Amen.*

* Manuel de la ConfrSrie du Cceur Agonisant, pp. 57
—60.

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240 THE AGONISING HEART.

IV.

PRAYER OF A NUN OF THE VISITATION*

O holy Humanity of Jesus, let Thy infinite
merits be applied to this poor soul now in its
last agony, let Thy Precious Blood wash it, and
fill it with Thy divine love.

Remember, O Lord Jesus, that this soul
belongs to Thee, that Thou didst create it, didst
regenerate it in holy baptism, didst redeem it
by Thy painful death.

O Jesus, Who wast forsaken in Thine Agony
in the Garden of Olives, help this poor soul,
defend it from the enemies who are seeking its
destruction.

O Almighty Jesus,, rescue this soul from the
hands of those who would take it from Thee.
O Jesus, Brightness of the Eternal Glory, make
this soul seek to glorify Thee. O my King,
Thou hast given us the merit of all Thou didst
suffer, let these merits avail for this poor soul,
and save it from eternal death for the glory of
Thy Name, and for the satisfaction of Thy
Divine Heart, which is full of love for it O
most kind Jesus, by the merits of Thy Passion,
grant to this soul, redeemed by Thee, the grace
of a perfect conversion, and of final perseverance.

O Jesus, by Thy three hours' sad Agony on
the Cross, mercifully give this soul grace to
make sincere professions of faith, hope, and

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PRAYERS FOR THE DYING. 24I

charity. O Divine Lamb, once sacrificed for us,
make it humble, patient, and obedient; make
it tQ forgive every offence, and to put away all
resentment towards others ; and fill it with
heartfelt penitence for its offences against Thee,
Thou Who art infinite goodness. O Jesus, my
Saviour, by the desolation of Thy Heart, enable
it to bear all desolation with peace, resignation,
and love.

O Jesus, Thou knowest that I can do
nothing, that this soul can do nothing without
Thy grace. Grant us Thy grace, most merciful
Redeemer.

O Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, be to it Jesus ! Pre-
serve it in the grace which Thou hast merited
to obtain for us, be compassionate unto it, and
receive it into the Wound in Thy Sacred Heart

O Jesus, let this soul live only for Thee
during its remaining moments. Let it die to
live again eternally in Thee, the true Life.

O Jesus, let it listen to Thee if Thou dost
speak, let it adore Thee if Thou art silent, let it
be entirely submissive to Thy will.

O Jesus, defend and strengthen the dying
heart, with faith, and grace, and trust in Thee.

O Jesus, Sacrifice of Propitiation, purify this
soul in Thy Precious Blood.

O Jesus, let all Thy graces and mercies
towards this soul work out its salvation, for
Thine eternal glory, instead of showing Thy
divine justice in its condemnation.-
v

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242

THE AGONISING HEART.

Let the burden of its sins, which deserve the
punishment of death, fill it with a holy and
loving fear ; but let it see at the same time that
the burden of the Cross which Thou didst bear
has gained for it Heaven, and the eternal
enjoyment of Thy love.

O Jesus, my Saviour, let this soul enter by
the door of Thy Sacred Wounds, and appear
spotless before Thy Heavenly Father, and let it
have some of those holy feelings with which
Thou didst die upon the Cross.

O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, let the last
act of the mortal life of this soul, now in agony,
be an utterance of pure love of God. Let its
last desire and strength be for Thee, and let it
be inspired by the most ardent love. Let it
make the sacrifice of life to Thee from a great
desire of seeing Thee. Let it sigh after Thine
eternal abode. Let it fly to Thee, borne
upward by the flame of fervent love.

O Jesus, may it go with Thee to Calvary and
the Cross, and from the Cross to Heaven. May
its last sigh be in union with Thee.

O Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, show Thyself Jesus,
and receive this soul into Thy Bosom. Amen.*

* Vie de la divote Sceur Jeanne Binigne Gojos, ecrite
par la Mere Marie- Gertrude Provare de Leyni, citee par
Boulange,* Manuel de la Confrerie du Cceur Agonisant,
pp. 64—69.

Google

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PRAYERS FOR THE DYING.

243

PRAYER OF FATHER FRANCO.

O most gracious Jesus, Who at the sight of the
multitude and of the enormity of our crimes,
and of the fearful sufferings by which Thou
wert about to expiate them, wast overwhelmed
in the Garden of Olives by so great an Agony,
that Thou didst pour forth a Sweat of Blood, by
the cruel torments of Thine Heart, have mercy
on Thy servant who is now in his last agony.
By the weariness and sadness which Thou didst
bear, soften the terrors of death for him ; by
the confidence which Thou hadst in Thy
Heavenly Father, give him a firm hope in the
divine mercy; by the Precious Blood which
Thou didst shed from every part of Thy
adorable Body, purify him from all his sins;
and by the divine resignation with which Thou
didst submit to Thy Father, make him accept
of death with a perfect conformity to Thy holy
will*

VI.

PRAYERS OF MORVELLI.

O Lord Jesus, the refuge and helper of all
sinners, we most earnestly beseech Thee, by

* Franco, Nouveau Manuel de la devotion au Saeri
Cceur de Jtsus, pt. 2, Prifcres pour les Agonisants.

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244 THE AGONISING HEART.

Thine Agony, by Thy most holy Prayer to Thy
Father on the Mount of Olives, and by Thy
Sweat of Blood, mercifully to offer to Thy
Divine Father all the anguish and distress Thou
didst then suffer for the many sins of this His
creature, now in his last agony. We pray thee,
O Lord, to deliver him in the awful hour of
death from all pains and sorrows, which he
fears he may have to undergo for his sins.

O Thou sweetest rest of our souls and bodies,
Jesus, Son of God, Lord and Saviour of the
human race, in the night of Thy Passion Thou
didst say in Thy Prayer to Thy Father : " My
Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass
from Me. Nevertheless, not as I wilt, but as
Thou wilt." At that hour Thy Anguish was so
great, that a Sweat of Blood poured from Thy
whole Body. We beseech Thee, most merciful
Lord, give us grace to call upon Thee so
earnestly for this sick person, who is about to
give up his soul to Thee, that we may be
worthy to obtain for him the forgiveness of all
his sins.

O most merciful Lord, consolation of the
world, joy of Angels and of men, how fearful
was Thy state in the Garden of Olives, when
Thy Agony and mortal sadness caused Thee to
pour forth a Sweat of Blood. Thou didst need
an Angel to comfort Thee, Thou wast con-
strained to pray that Thy Father would let that
bitter chalice pass; yet, resigned to that Father's

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PRAYERS FOR THE DYING. 245

will, Thou didst say, " Not My will, but Thine
be done ! " Now, by Thy Blood, by Thine
Agony, by the mortal anguish Thou didst suffer
so humbly, we pray Thee to perform the office
of the Angel of Consolation for this agonising
soul, to strengthen it amid the horrors and
pains of death, so that with Thee it may say,
"O Eternal Father, I am content, not my will,
but Thine be done."*

VII.

PRAYERS OF LATTAIGNANT.

O most sweet Lord Jesus Christ, Who on the
night of Thy Passion didst pray to Thy Father,
saying, " Remove this chalice from Me ; but
yet not My will, but Thine be done ; " the sad-
ness and the fear, the weariness and the pain
which Thou didst then undergo were so great
that thy Sweat was as drops of Blood, trickling
down upon the ground. O good Jesus, by this
sadness, by these fears, by this weariness, by
that Sweat of Blood, we beseech Thee to
strengthen the soul of this Thy servant who is
suffering, to give him the consolation, the grace,
and the strength he now so greatly needs.
O most kind Jesus, Divine Shepherd of Souls,

* Morvelli, Apparecchio deW anima per il felice passagio
aW altra vita, p. 237, 239, 277.

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246 THE AGONISING HEART.

Who on the night of Thy Passion wast forsaken
by Thy Disciples, and left in the hands of Thine
enemies; we most humbly pray Thee not to
leave this poor soul in the hands of its enemies
and Thine ; but mercifully to lead it into the
place of eternal rest by the merits of Thy most
holy Passion.

O most kind Lord Jesus Christ, Who didst
feel in the person of Judas how great a grief it
is to have a faithless friend, do not let this soul
be faithless to Thee, do not let it lose Thy
love, as he did. The glory of Thy love is in
making sinners holy, and traitors faithful; if
ever this soul has been among the number of
Thy betrayers, convert it and make it faithful to
Thee even unto death. Amen.*

VIII.

LITANY OF THE DYING.

Lord have mercy on him (or her).

Christ have mercy on him.

Lord have mercy on him.

Holy Mary, pray for him [or her].

All ye holy Angels and Archangels, pray for him.

Holy Abel, pray for him.

* De Lattaignant, Les Secours spirituels que Pon doit au
prochain dans les maladies qui pennent oiler & la mort,
n. 16.

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PRAYERS FOR THE DYING. 247

All ye choirs of the Just, pray for him.

Holy Abraham, pray for him.

St John Baptist, pray for him.

St Joseph, pray for him.

All ye holy Patriarchs and Prophets, pray for him.

St Peter, pray for him.

St Paul, pray for him.

St Andrew, pray for him.

St John, pray for him.

All ye holy Apostles and Evangelists, /raj/ for him.

All ye holy Disciples of our Lord, pray for him.

All ye holy Innocents, pray for him.

St Stephen, pray for him.

St Lawrence, pray for him.

All ye holy Martyrs, pray for him.

St Sylvester, pray for him.

St Gregory, pray for him.

St Augustine, pray for him.

All ye holy Bishops and Confessors, pray for him.

St Benedict, pray for him.

St Francis, pray for him.

All ye holy Monks and Hermits, pray for him.

St Mary Magdalen, pray for him.

St Lucy, pray for him.

All ye holy Virgins and Widows, pray for him.
All ye men and women, Saints of God, intercede

for him [or her].
Be merciful unto him, O God. Spare him 9
O Lord.

Be merciful unto him. Deliver him [or her\

O Lord.

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248

THE AGONISING HEART.

Be merciful unto him. Deliver him [or her\
O Lord.

From Thy wrath, deliver him, O Lord.
From the danger of eternal death, deliver him,
O Lord.

From an evil death, deliver him, O Lord.

From the pains of hell, deliver him, O Lord.

From all evil, deliver him, O Lord.

From the power of the devil, deliver him, O Lord.

By Thy Nativity, deliver him, O Lord.

By Thy Cross + and Passion, deliver him, O Lord.

By Thy Death and Burial, deliver him, O Lord.

By Thy glorious Resurrection, deliver him, OLord.

By Thy wonderful Ascension, deliver him, O Lord.

By the grace of the Holy Ghost the Comforter,

deliver him, O Lord.
In the day of Judgment, deliver him, O Lord.
We sinners, beseech Thee to hear us.
That Thou spare him, we beseech Thee to hear us.
Lord have mercy on him.
Christ have mercy on him.
Lord have mercy on him.

RECOMMENDATION OF A DEPARTING SOUL.

Go forth, O Christian soul, out of this world, in
the name of God the Father Almighty, Who
created thee ; in the name of Jesus Christ, the
Son of the living God, Who suffered for thee ;

IX.

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PRAYERS FOR THE DYING. 249

in the name of the Holy Ghost, Who sanctified
thee; in the name of the Angels, Archangels,
Thrones, and Dominations, Cherubim and Sera-
phim ; in the name of the Patriarchs and Pro-
phets, of the holy Apostles and Evangelists,
of the holy Martyrs, Confessors, Monks and
Hermits, of the holy Virgins, and of all the
Saints of God. May thy place be this day in
peace, and thy abode in holy Sion. Through
Christ our Lord. Amen.

0 merciful and gracious God, O God, Who
according to the multitude of Thy mercies
blottest out the sins of such as repent, and
graciously remittest the guilt of their past
offences, mercifully regard this Thy servant,
N., and grant him [or her] a full discharge from
all his sins, who with a contrite heart most
earnestly begs it of Thee. Renew, O merciful
Father, whatever has been vitiated in him, by
human frailty, or by the frauds and deceits of
the enemy ; and associate him as a member of
redemption to the unity of the body of the
Church. Have compassion, O Lord, on his
sighs, have compassion on his tears, and admit
him, who has no hope but in Thy mercy, to
the sacrament of Thy reconciliation. Through
Christ our Lord. Amen.

1 commend Thee, dear brother, to the
Almighty God, and consign thee to the care
of Him, whose creature thou art, that, when
thou shalt have paid the debt of all mankind

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250 THE AGONISING HEART.

by death, thou mayest return to thy Maker,
Who formed thee from the dust of the earth.
When, therefore, thy soul shall depart from
thy body, may the resplendent multitude of
the Angels meet thee; may the court of the
Apostles receive thee; may the triumphant
army of glorious Martyrs come out to welcome
thee ; may the splendid company of Confessors
clad in their white robes encompass thee ; may
the choir of joyful Virgins receive thee ; and
mayest thou meet with a blessed repose in the
bosom of the Patriarchs. May Jesus Christ
appear to thee with a mild and joyful counten-
ance, and appoint thee a place amongst those
who are to stand before Him for ever. Mayest
thou be a stranger to all that is punished with
darkness, chastised with flames, and condemned
to torments. May the most wicked enemy,
with all his evil spirits, be forced to give way ;
may he tremble at thy approach in the company
of Angels, and with confusion fly away into the
vast chaos of eternal night Let God arise and
His enemies be dispersed, and let them that
hate Him fly before His face, let them vanish
like smoke ; and as wax that melts before the
fire, so let sinners perish in the sight of God ;
but may the just rejoice and be happy in His
presence. May then all the legions of hell be
confounded and put to shame ; and may none
of the ministers of Satan dare to stop thee in
thy way. May Christ deliver thee from torments,

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PRAYERS FOR THE DYING. 2$ I

Who was crucified for thee. May He deliver
thee from eternal death, Who vouchsafed to
die for thee. May Jesus Christ, the Son of
the living God, place thee in the ever-verdant
lawns of His Paradise ; and may He, the true
Shepherd, acknowledge thee for one of His
flock. May He absolve thee from all thy sins,
and place thee at His right hand in the midst
of His Elect. Mayest thou see thy Redeemer
face to face, and, standing always in His pre-
sence, behold with happy eyes the most clear
truth. And mayest thou be placed among the
companies of the Blessed, and enjoy the sweet-
ness of the contemplation of thy God for ever.
Amen.

V. Receive, O Lord, Thy servant into the
place of salvation, which he hopes to obtain
through Thy mercy.

i?. Amen.

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant
from all danger of hell, and from all pain and
tribulation.

i?. Amen.

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant,
as Thou deliveredst Enoch and Elias from the
common death of the world.

R. Amen.

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant,
as Thou deliveredst Noah from the flood.
R. Amen.

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252 THE AGONISING HEART.

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant,
as Thou deliveredst Abraham from the midst
of the Chaldeans.

./?. Amen.

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant,
as Thou deliveredst Job from all his afflictions.
JR. Amen.

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant,
as Thou deliveredst Isaac from being sacrificed
by his father.

JR. Amen.

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant,
as Thou deliveredst Lot from being destroyed
in the flames of Sodom.

R. Amen.

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant,
as Thou deliveredst Moses from the hands of
Pharaoh, King of Egypt

i?. Amen.

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant,
as Thou deliveredst Daniel from the Hons' den.
JR. Amen.

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant,
as Thou deliveredst the Three Children from
the fiery furnace, and from the hands of an
unmerciful King.

J?. Amen.

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant,
as Thou deliveredst Susanna from her false
accusers.

J?. Amen.

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PRAYERS FOR THE DYING. 2J3

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant,
as Thou deliveredst David from the hands of
Saul and Goliah.

i?. Amen.

V. Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant,
as Thou deliveredst Peter and Paul out of
prison.

i?. Amen.

V. And as Thou deliveredst that blessed
Virgin and Martyr, St. Thecla, from three most
cruel torments, so vouchsafe to deliver the soul
of this Thy servant, and bring it to the partici-
pation of Thy heavenly joys.

JR, Amen.

We commend to Thee, O Lord, the soul of
Thy servant, N., and we beseech Thee, O Lord
Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, that as
in mercy to him Thou becamest Man, so now
Thou wouldst vouchsafe to admit him to the
bosom of Thy Patriarchs. Remember, O Lord,
he is Thy creature, not made by strange gods,
but by Theo, the only living and true God ; for
there is no other God but Thee, and none that
can equal Thy works. Let his soul rejoice in
Thy presence, and remember not his former
iniquities and excesses, which he has fallen into
through the violence of passion and the cor-
ruption of his nature. For although he has
sinned, yet he has always firmly believed in the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; he has had a
w

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254 THE AGONISING HEART.

zeal for Thy honour, and faithfully adored Thee
as his God, and the Creator of all things.

Remember not, O Lord, we beseech Thee,
the sins of his youth and his ignorances, but,
according to Thy great mercy, be mindful of
him in Thy heavenly glory. Let the Heavens
be opened to him, and the Angels rejoice with
him. Let the Archangel St. Michael, whom
Thou hast appointed the chief of the heavenly
host, conduct him. Let the holy Angels come
out to meet him, and carry him to the city of
the heavenly Jerusalem Let blessed Peter the
Apostle, to whom God gave the keys of the
Kingdom of Heaven, receive him. Let St. Paul
the Apostle, who was a vessel of election, assist
him. Let St. John, the Beloved Disciple, to
whom the secrets of Heaven were revealed,
intercede for him. Let all the holy Apostles,
who received from Jesus Christ the power of
binding and loosing, pray for him. Let all the
Saints and Elect of God, who in this world
have suffered torments for the name of Christ,
intercede for him; that being freed from the
prison of his body, he may be admitted into the
glory of Thy Heavenly Kingdom. Through
the grace and merits of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who with Thee and the Holy Ghost, liveth and
reigneth one God, world without end.

R. Amen.

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PRAYERS FOR THE DYING. 255

The soul being departed, the following Responsary may
be said: —

Come to his [or her] assistance, all ye Saints
of God ; meet him, all ye Angels of God :
receiving his soul, offering it in the sight of
the Most High. May Christ receive thee, Who
hath called thee, and may the Angels conduct
thee to Abraham's bosom. Receiving his soul
and offering it in the sight of the Most High.

V. Eternal rest give to him, O Lord, and
let perpetual light shine upon him.

& Offering it in the sight of the Most
High.

V. Lord have mercy on him.
i?. Christ have mercy on him.

V. Lord have mercy on him.
Our Father, &c.

V. And lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil.

V. Eternal rest give to him, O Lord.

jR. And let perpetual light shine upon him.

V. From the gates of hell,
R. Deliver his soul, O Lord.

V. May he rest in peace.
R. Amen.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer,
i?. And let my supplication come unto
Thee.

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256 THE AGONISING HEART.

Let us pray.

To Thee, O Lord, we commend the soul of
Thy servant, N., that being dead to this world
he may live to Thee ; and whatever sins he has
committed in this life through human frailty,
do Thou in Thy most merciful goodness forgive.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

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